The meaning of family
by selfless1978
Summary: The Turtles come across a mother in need. Leo finds that he needs something from her as well. This is my first story so all reviews are welcome.
1. Chapter 1

I do not own any of the tmnt characters.

I thought I'd try something a little different...I hope you like it.

Vicky had lost. As much as she had tried to hide from him he found her and her children. Or rather his goons found them. They had her cornered in a dark ally. Her children, only 6 and 7, were cornered between her and the men that approached her.

"Well, well. Look who we have here" one said. "the boss has been looking for you all over the country. And here we find you in New York City of all places"

"Leave us alone." Vicky hissed at them. "I'm not going back to him."

"Babe," leered another "it's not YOU he wants." His eyes went to the 2 cowering forms behind her. "He told us we could have you for fun."

She felt the blood leave her face. She knew what these men were capable of...she is married to the man who pays their bank roll. 'God I have been so stupid with my life.' she thought watching as they got within arms reach of her. There were 10 of them and only her. She felt so defenseless and her children were crying now. God what could she do!

The first one who spoke grabbed her and pulled her close to him. "And have some fun we shall... Get the brats." he told the others.

'No...I can't let them. I have to fight. If not for me then for them. They don't deserve this...' ran through her mind. But what could she do? The thug put a hand in her hair and pulled her face closer. So close his foul breath was mixing with hers. Tears were springing to her eyes.

Little Dennis screamed as one of the other men grabbed his arm. Amy was crying loudly now.

"Shut them UP!" the man holding her said. Then she heard a smack and her 7 yr old boy wail in pain.

'NO! This will NOT HAPPEN!' screamed in her mind and something awoke in her. Pure rage welled up inside her. 'You are their mother! DO SOMETHING!' Without further thought she kneed the man in the groin as hard as she could. This stunned him enough to where he let his grip go. It also hurt him by the way he crouched over. Vicky didn't hesitate, she pushed him over and tried to get to her children. She was so close when she felt another man grab her and slam her front first up against the ally wall.

"Bitch...your going to pay for that." she heard from behind her. And then the thug banged her head against the wall. With a cry of pain she fell to the ground. She could feel the blood running down her face. But she refused to pass out. Trying desperately to get to her frightened children. She stopped when she felt a sharp pain in her side. He had kicked her in the ribs. It was followed by several more. She crumpled to the ground, gasping for breath and tears flowing down her cheeks. 'Please' she thought 'someone, please help.'

Something landed next to her. Followed closely by three more light thuds. She couldn't see clearly...between tears, blood and dizziness she could not process what she saw. A green foot? She heard complete silence for a second then heard her son.."Whoooooa"

Then all hell broke loose. She heard a lot of thumps and groans and metal clanging. She tried to get up. 'The children' she thought.

"Stay down" a gentle voice told her "I'm right here and I won't let them near you. Your hurt pretty bad"

"The...kids?" She tried to ask.

"They are OK. My brother has them." that same voice replied.

"Leo! Look out!" came a call.

The foot disappeared out of her view for a second followed by a grunt and a crash, then reappeared. "Thanks, Donnie!" the voice above her said.

"No problem!" the other voice replied.

"That's the last of them." said a third voice.

"Mommy!" "Hang on little dudette. Let my brothers look after her real quick"

How many are there? She wondered.

Suddenly she felt gentle hands turn her over. She looked at something she couldn't describe. A green face? With a blue mask? But the eyes. She got lost in those eyes. Large, blue and...gentle as the hands he handled her with. She knew she should be scared but for some reason she wasn't. "Hang in there." he told her.

Another head came into view, this one with a purple mask. "Leo, she is pretty banged up. I'd be surprised if they didn't break a rib or two on her."

"We'll get her an ambulance." the blue masked one said.

Vicky panicked. "No...hospital. Please..." She gasped

"Lady, your hurt you need to go." A red masked face popped into view.

"NO! Please..." She looked into the blue masked one's eyes again "...he will find me...and the kids...please help...me...hide...my children..."

Those large blue eyes looked into hers. The gaze cut through the tears of pain and dizziness and she could see them clearly. The compassion in them, gentleness and worry. "It's OK" he said. "Donnie, you think you can check her out at the lair?"

"WHAT!?" Yelled the red masked one.

"I dunno..." the purple masked one said. "well if i can fix us up i guess she couldn't be any harder."

"Then it's settled." Blue mask replied. He looked down at Vicky again. "You and your kids are coming with us."

The relief flooded over her overcoming all her pain. She finally allowed herself to give in to the darkness.

.

.

"Are you fucking NUTS?" Ralph hissed at him as they were walking to the lair. "

Leo sighed. "No, Raph, I'm not nuts." he whispered. Trying to keep his voice low so the 2 children wouldn't hear him and his brother arguing...again. He was carrying their mother as careful as he could, holding her body close to his so she wouldn't move in his arms as he walked. He didn't want to hurt her anymore than she already was. Donnie held the little girl. Mikey carried the boy. Raph was carrying his temper.

"Why are we doing this, Leo?"

"Raph, you saw how upset she was at the thought of going to the hospital. Something has her scared enough to not feel safe there."

His brother just stared at him for a moment then shook his head. "Great..." he muttered "THIS is going to be interesting."

"Is Mommy going to be OK?" he heard a little voice ask. "I'm sure she will be, sweetie" Donnie replied. "I'll fix her up the best i can. I promise. OK?"

"OK"

'The poor kids' thought Leo. That was the first time either one had said a word during the trip. Obviously they were worried about their mother. That thought made Leo look down at her. Her head was leaning against his shoulder and she was still breathing ragged breaths. A worried frown crossed over his lips. She fought so hard to try and help her children.

They had come across the scene during roof top patrol. Mikey was the first to spot them. "Guys over there!" he said, pointing to an ally. Leo had looked just in time to see her nail the guy with a knee jab. But he knew she was in trouble. "Let's GO!" Even as they were racing to the scene he watched in horror as they slammed her into the wall. His eyes had widened when he heard the children screaming. He had to watch as the woman fell to the ground and tried to get to the children. But was stopped short as 3 men started to kick her. "Mikey get to the kids! I'll get to the woman. Raph, Donnie, try to form a blockade. Keep the rest back!" He heard their "OK!"s just as he jumped down from the roof with his blades in his hands. He landed right next to her and let the stunned men see the wrath in his eyes. Then he lashed out. Those 3 men didn't stand a chance. He looked around quickly. Mikey had taken care of the guys holding the kids. Then he noticed she was trying to get up. He knelt down over her so she could hear him. "Stay down. I'm right here and I won't let them near you. Your hurt pretty bad."

"The...kids?"

"They are OK. My brother has them."

He heard Donnie's warning and looked up to see one that had gotten past his brothers. He launched straight from the ground into a kick that sent his would be attacker flying into the ally wall. the fight was finished shortly after that. He gently turned her over and felt rage burning in him when he saw the blood on her face. He looked into her eyes and the rage fell away. Something in her brown orbs held him and took his breath away. He saw the pain in her eyes but strangely...no fear. "Hang in there". She just calmly watched him holding his eyes with her own. That calmness fled when he mentioned the ambulance. Panic, fear, desperation and a silent plea took it's place. That's when he made the choice to honor her request. "Then it's settled. you and your kids are coming with us". Relief filled those soft brown orbs. Then she passed out in his arms.

Leo came out of his musing as they reached the lair. He entered and took her straight to Donnie's lab. Once in he placed her gently on the table. Even as careful as he was she still moaned a little in pain. Donnie came in right behind him, still holding the little girl. He passed her to Leo. "I need to work on the mother." Donnie said "I don't think she needs to be in here right now." Leo nodded and carried her out.

As he was taking her to set her on the couch next to the little boy Mikey had already placed there, she looked at him. "Mr. Green guy?"

"Yes?"

"Thank you for helping my Mommy."

Leo looked down at her and smiled. "Your welcome"

"What's your name?"

"Leonardo. But you can call me Leo."

"I'm Amy. That's my brudder, Dennis."

Leo looked at the boy. "Hi, Dennis."

"Hi." The boy replied quietly. He looked at Leo, and just like his mother had no fear in his eyes. "Are you a turtle?"

"Yes"

"Cool... I like turtles."

Mikey, came out of the kitchen with some pizza. He carried it over to the couch and sat with the kids. "You little guys hungry?"

"YES!"

Leo smiled. Even tho they were approaching their 29th year, Mikey still had a love for pizza and so did the kids apparently. Well at least he wasn't putting all that garbage onto them anymore...

He looked at his little brother and Mikey winked and nodded towards Donnie's lab. Leo nodded and went to go help Donnie. When he entered he found Raph and Master Splinter there as well. Donnie was hooking up an IV while talking to them. The conversation broke off when he entered.

"My, son. Please explain."

Leo sighed and looked at his master. He was older now with more grey in his fur. "Master, she was obviously scared. Something scared her so much she was doing herself more harm. I couldn't in good faith let her go. It just didn't...feel right. I take the full blame."

Sensei, looked at him a moment, "No, my son. There is no blame. More than once that feeling has saved many lives. If you deem that she be safer here, than here she will stay. For now."

"Yes, Master splinter"

"Leo, " Donnie spoke up " she has been beaten up pretty good. She is going to be sore as hell for awhile. Her head is going to need some stitches. I'll clean her up and get started on that after i wrap her ribs up. That's my main concern. She has 3 fractured ones. But over all she should be OK."

Leo nodded. "I'll help you, Donnie" He went to get a warm bowl of water and a washrag. Then he gently proceeded to clean the blood off of her face.

"Come Raphael." His master said "Let us see to the needs of the little ones." Raph nodded and left with Splinter.

Together Donnie and Leo got her cleaned up and bandaged. Leo worked in silence, listing to his brother's instructions. He knew his brother was the best one for this job. Donnie had patched them up so many times, not to mention having to fix up April and Casey a time or two. As they were finishing up Mikey came in.

"I got the kiddos to sleep. They are worried about their Mom but are to tired to stay up any more. Nice kids tho." Mikey smiled "I kinda like them."

"Alright Mikey, thank you. You and Raph get some rest. It's getting late." He caught Donnie yawning out of the corner of his eye. "You to Donnie. I'll stay here and watch over her."

Donnie nodded "Alright Leo, if you need me let me know.'

"I will. Goodnight."

"Gnight"

Leo pulled up and chair and sat with her. He found himself alone with his thoughts. Looking at her he got that feeling that she needed his help. Something about her struck Leo to his core. Remembering how hard she tried to reach her children got him thinking of his own family. They were all older now, not the reckless teenagers they used to be. April and Casey had married a few years back. Mikey had matured somewhat, he still had that easy going attitude about him though. Raph had mellowed out a bit too. He wasn't so quick to fly off the handle anymore, but he still did every once in awhile. Donnie hasn't changed much at all, Leo smiled, he still loved to tinker. If anything they had become closer together over the years, if that was possible. He smiled again when he thought about how many grey hairs his family had added to his master's fur. That's when it hit him. He saw in this woman the same strong parental bond with her kids that Sensei had with them. He looked at her face. Her glorious brown eyes hidden from him behind her eyelids. How he wished he could look in those eyes again. Something had happened to her that made her fear for her children and he wasn't going to let it happen again. He reached out his hand and took hers. "I will help you." He whispered. "Whatever I can do to help, I will." He sat there quietly the rest of the night. Just holding her hand. Trying to give her what strength he could.


	2. Chapter 2

She awoke in near darkness. The room was quiet with only a single light coming from a desk lamp across the room. Her head hurt and so did her side. She tried to focus but couldn't bring her thoughts to bear past the pain in her head. She closed her eyes again trying to remember what happened. Fuzzy images in her head. Being trapped in the ally. Strange men around her. Dennis, screaming in pain... He eyes popped open again as it all came crashing back to her. 'I have to find the kids!' she thought frantically. She tried to get up and fell back as pain shot through her chest.

"Easy." That voice. She knew that voice. "Don't try to get up just yet. You'll hurt yourself even more." She felt a gentle hand on her right shoulder, holding her down.

Vicky closed her eyes and waited for the pain to subside. When she opened them back up again she locked gazes with those calming blue eyes. He was standing next to her. "I'm glad your awake." he said. "You will be OK. But you need to rest and heal right now. Once my brother looks you over we will move you to something more comfortable than his lab table."

She nodded. "Are Dennis and Amy ok?"

"They are fine" he smiled "They took quite a liking to my brother Mikey. Of course I think the pizza may have helped him with that. He's looking over them now."

She closed her eyes and breathed a sigh of relief. Then looked back at him. "Thank you...I wasn't strong enough. I tried but I coul-" She was cut off as she started to cry.

He pulled the chair back over and sat down next to her. He leaned in to wrap his arms around her and very carefully drew her to him. She reached up and hugged him, tears rolling down her cheeks. He didn't say anything but just quietly held her. For the first time in months she felt safe. His arms were so strong but also gentle. He held her close and let her cry onto his shoulder. After she calmed down she took a deep ragged breath, wincing at the pain in her chest. "I'm sorry" she whispered.

"Don't be." He helped her lay back down. "My name is Leonardo. But everone just calls me Leo."

"Victoria. But i prefer Vicky. Nice to meet you. Now would you please tell me what the heck you are?"

He laughed. "Your son figured it out real quick. We are mutated turtles."

Vicky thought about that for a minute. Then looked into his eyes again "Well, you are more human than most humans..."

Still looking her in the eyes he took her hand into his and gave it a light squeeze. "I'll go get Donnie. He will give you something for the pain. Then you need to rest." She nodded in agreement even though she didn't want him to go. He looked into her eyes a moment longer then is hand slipped out of hers and he was gone.

Leo walked out of the lab and went looking for Donnie. He was probably still sleeping so Leo went to check his room. He found his brother still in bed and rumpled up in his sheets and blankets mumbling something in his sleep. Leo gently shook his brother. "Whazzit..." Donnie mumbled blinking sleepy eyes open.

"She's awake. It looks like the pain killers you gave her earlier are wearing off."

Donnie got up rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "OK, Leo. I'll go check on her right now."

"Thanks, Don." He turned to go.

"Leo," Donnie placed his hand on his big brother shoulder. "you should get some sleep now. You're exhausted"

"Maybe later...I just can't right now."

"Well don't wait to long or I'll make Raph knock you out. You remember he liked to beat up on us a lot. I'm sure he's good for one more knock out."

Leo looked at his brother and saw his eyes wide with amusement. "I thought Mikey was the clown..." Donnie laughed and walked towards his lab.

His brother was right. Leo needed sleep but he knew he wouldn't be able to. So he went to the dojo instead. Maybe some training would help him settle down. After streaching and warming up he started to move through the katas. Each one done so many times that he flowed with the grace of perfection. He got lost in the movements. He didn't mind training alone. It always gave him a sense of peace to be alone with his thoughts. But his thoughts kept wandering to Vicky. She kept creeping into his mind. It had felt so good to hold her earlier, to comfort her. Her arms around his neck. Her face against his shoulder. Her long dark brown hair draping over his arm. She had felt so...so _right_ being in his arms. Leo stopped his training and stood their with his eyes closed replaying the moments in his head. He sighed. He just couldn't hold onto the piece of mind he was trying to reach.

Suddenly Leo knew he wasn't alone anymore. Someone was watching him. He turned to the entrance to the dojo and noticed a little form in the doorway. It was Dennis. He was looking at Leo with awe. He met the little boy's eyes with his own and noticed a need in them. He smiled. "You can come in, Dennis."

The boy walked up to him. Looking around in wonder. "How did you do that?" he asked

"Practice. I've been doing this for a long time."

Dennis looked to the floor. "I wish i could do that." he whispered. "Then Mommy wouldn't have gotten...". Leo heard a sob.

He dropped down to one knee so his face was even with the child's. He took a finger under the boy's chin and gently lifted his face. Tears were streaming down his cheeks. Leo didn't even hesitate and pulled him into a hug. "It's not your fault, Dennis. Don't ever think that this was your fault."

"O-o-o-o-k" the boy managed to get out between sobs. He held the boy close. Giving what comfort he could while the child calmed down. As Dennis was trying to get a hold of himself Leo raised his eyes. Master Splinter, Mikey and Amy were standing there. Amy looked like she was about to cry too. Leo held out his arm and beckoned her to join them. She ran to him and he caught her in a hug along with her brother. As he held them he met his Master's eyes. He returned the gaze, reading what his son was wanting to do from his eyes. Leo watched as his Master nodded his head in approval.

Mikey caught it all and grinned. "Raph, is gonna looove this..." he whispered. Master Splinter glared at his youngest son. "Uh...I'll go make breakfast." Then he was gone. Splinter followed him to the kitchen.

Leo held the kids for a moment longer. "Are you guys hungry?" two heads nodded. "Come on. Let's go help Mikey." He rose and started to lead them out of the room. He got two steps away when he felt a little hand slip into his. Followed by another one slipping into his other hand an instant later. He stopped and looked down at the children holding his hands. They looked at him through tear stained eyes. "It will be OK. Let's get some breakfast then I'll go check with Donnie if you can go see your mom, alright?" Two big smiles beamed up at him. He squeezed their hands softly and lead them to the kitchen. Their little hands feeling so natural in his.

Donnie had come in moments after his brother left. Vicky found him to be very interesting. It seemed he knew everything. After they made their introductions he answered all her questions as he looked her over. He was witty, kind and as gentle as Leo. But he wasn't Leo. "Ok, Vicky, I don't see anything going wrong at this point any more. So i think I'll give you the go ahead to get moved to a more compfy spot. This table isn't the best to lay on."

She laughed a little. "Leo said the same thing."

There was a gentle tap on the door. "Great minds think alike." Donnie replied as he went to answer the door. There was a whispered conversation followed by Donnie opening the door wider. In the doorway stood Leo holding her children's hands. They were ok. She teared up and held out her arms to them.

"MOMMY!" they cried out together. If Leo wasn't holding on to their hands they would have climbed up the table.

"Easy you two." he gently told them. "She still hurts. You have to be careful."

Amy looked at her. Then at Leo and Donnie. "Can i give her a huggy?" Donnie nodded and Leo picked her up and set her next to her mother. Donnie picked up Dennis and placed him on the other side of her. They carefully laid down next to her and she held them as tight as she could. Tears streaming down her face. They didn't talk. They just held her and she held them. She looked at Leo and Donnie with graditude. They smiled at her in return. And in the doorway were Mikey, Raph and Splinter. Mikey was actually crying. Raph looked thoughtful. Splinter looked at her calmly and nodded. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Holding her children close until the pain medicine kicked in and she drifted off into peaceful slumber.

She fell asleep first and the children drifted off soon after. Donnie then turned his attention to his brother. Leo was exausted. "Leo, go get some sleep. Now."

"I will in a little bit, Donnie. I want to try to move her before the meds wear off if it's ok. That table really does not look to comfortable"

Donnie laughed softly. "It's not. How many times have you guys been laid out on it? You should know. As long as we are careful she is ok to move. Where are we going to move her to?"

"My room. I decided to bring them here. I'm not going to make one of you guys give up your beds." He smiled a little "And I think my bed will hold all three of them. I don't think we are going to untangle them any time soon." Leo looked at the sleeping bodies again and sighed.

Donnie caught the look on his brothers face. He started to smile but hid it behind his hand. He looked at the doorway saw that Raph was the only one still there. "Come give us a hand, Raph." He nodded and came into the room. The three brothers gently untangled the arms of the sleeping family. Raph and Donnie picked up a child and Leo picked up Vicky. Leo then led them out of the lab and started to his room.

Raph said quietly "These kids are wore out. Mikey said that neither one of them really slept good."

He looked at his brother. "After what they been through I wouldn't sleep good either if it were me. And who knows what else has happened to them."

Raph nodded. "She did freak out pretty bad last night about someone finding them." He turned his head to meet Donnie's gaze. "What the heck is going on?"

"I don't know," Leo whispered from in front of them "But I have every intention of finding out. Just not right now, they need rest."

Donnie and Raph looked at each other again. They knew that tone...

They reached Leo's room and he pushed the door open carefully with his foot then led the way inside. Softly he put her in the middle of the bed making sure to leave plenty of room for Dennis and Amy. Donnie and Raph then placed their charges next to their mother. Not one of them had woken up. Leo grabbed a blanket and covered them up. "Raph can you get in touch with April and Casey? We need to find some clean things for them to wear."

"Sure Leo" Raph said quietly walked out.

"Leo, go get some sleep," Donnie said. "your about to fall over. You can sleep in my room." Leo looked at him then he looked back to the sleeping forms on his bed. Donnie walked up to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "We will figure it out, Leo. We always do. Now go. I'll check on them while your sleeping and so will the rest of us. You need sleep."

Giving in his brother finally made his way to the room. Donnie watched his tired brother go. Then he turned back to look at the bed. 'Well you guys have managed to make life here interesting.' he thought. Then he smiled remembering the look on Leo's face. 'Very interesting indeed...' He chuckled quietly and closed the door leaving them to their slumber.


	3. Chapter 3

"MIKEEEEEEY!" Raph yelled.

Leo looked up from where he was reading sitting in the easychair. Raph was standing in the middle of the room. His face was wet and he was glareing at his little brother. Leo turned his gaze to Mikey. "Uh ooooh" the orange masked turtle whispered. Then he took off running. Raph took off after him. Mikey tried to get away in Donnie's lab but Raph tackled him before he made it half way there. They started to roll around the floor.

Donnie stuck his head out of the lab and looked at his rolling brothers. Then looked at Leo. "What is going on now?"

Leo sighed and looked at Donnie. "Dr. Prankenstain made an appearence."

"Waterballoon?"

"Yup."

It had been a few days now since they brought Vicky and her kids to the lair. She was getting better with each day and was now able to move around a bit. April had stopped by and brought her and the children some clothes. She also came by regularly to help Vicky shower for obvious reasons. Overall she was looking much better and Leo had a hard time keeping his eyes off of her. Right now she was laying propped up in the couch with pillows, watching with amusement in her eyes. Her children were sitting on the floor in front of her laughing. She looked at Leo with a half smile and an arched eyebrow. "Dr. Prankenstain?" She asked.

"You don't want to know..."

She laughed and turned back to the fiasco. "Do they do this a lot?"

"Not as much as they used to. Mikey was worse when we were teenagers. But every once in a while he gets that urge to pester someone. Usually it's Raph. And this is usually the outcome." He looked at his brothers again.

"Ow! I give, I give!" Mikey cried.

"I'll give you something!" Raph said "I'll give you a freaking headache!"

She laughed again. It was a soft gentle sound. Leo loved to her her laugh. Hearing it always sent a chill down his spine.

Suddenly there was a loud crash as Raph and Mikey smashed into an endtable next to the couch. The lamp on the table hit the floor and shattered.

"GUYS! Knock it-" Leo was cut short as Amy started crying. He looked down at her and saw that she had a lamp shard in her arm. He was next to her in an instant. Donnie was right there almost as fast as he was. Leo held out the arm and Donnie told Mikey to get his first aid kit. Leo held the arm steady as Donnie pulled out the shard. "It will be ok, swee-" again Leo was cut off but this time in astonishment. Right before his eyes the cut was healing. The bleeding stopped, then the wound started to close.

Leo and Donnie exchanged stunned looks. "Whoa..." came from Mikey who made it back with the first aid kit. By now the wound had closed and there was barely a scar where it had been. The four brothers exchanged glances then looked as one towards Vicky. Her face had gone pale as she was watching them.

"Donnie, go get Amy cleaned up. Mikey, Raph I'm sure you can find something to entertain Dennis for abit."

"Come on Dennis. I'll let you browse through my comic books." Mikey said. Dennis smiled and went with Mikey and Raph. Donnie took Amy to the bathroom to wash the blood off of her arm.

Leo looked at Vicky. "It's time we had a talk."

She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and nodded.

Vicky sat there for a minute with her eyes closed trying to gather her thoughts. She knew they deserved answers but she always managed to dodge the questions. She hated it but she also didn't want to get anyone involved. She had tried before to disasterous results... She felt herself tear up as she struggled with herself. 'Damn it!' she thought 'Will I ever stop crying?'

Suddenly she knew he was next to her. He took her hand in his. "It's ok." he said softly "Please, let us help."

She opened her eyes again and looked at him. He had moved to kneel by the couch next to her. He was close, but she wanted him closer. There was something about him she felt so drawn to. She felt so alive when he was near her and she felt empty and lost when he and his brothers had to go out on patrol. Over the last few days she had been watching him. She saw how much he loved, honored and respected the master that raised them and the love he had for his brothers. They had something that she lost long ago, something she had tried to show Dennis and Amy and failed to do. They had a strong family that loved every member no matter how unusual. They had even extended this bond to April and Casey. She didn't know what to to. She didn't want to jeopardize their lives, but at the same time she wanted to tell Leo everything. He sat there not demanding her to speak but rather waited patiently for her to open up. She felt him slightly tighning his grip on her hand, letting her know he was there and it was alright. She took another deep breath. 'The fear ends now' she thought. Looking into his reassuring blue eyes, she began her story.

She was the only child of 2 wonderful parents Jeff and Carole Baker. Her father worked in a genetics lab on the outskirts of Los Angeles. Her mother was a homemaker. She never got to see her father much but she knew he loved her and her mother very much. He had important work to do and they understood that. He was working on a project that would help regenerateing cell growth speed up. "Imagine a world where if you cut yourself a doctor could just wipe it away." was how he explained it to her as a child not much older than Dennis. It was meant to be a topical treatment, he never wanted to actually change the genetic make up of humans. That was to immoral for him. He just wanted to help humans, not change them. "I'm not God." He would often say.

Jeff was also known to bring his work home with him, including samples. She would often sit in his lab with him while he worked. Sitting and listing as he tried to explain to a child how advanced science works. Vicky never did really understand it but she enjoyed her fathers company. He didn't mind her being there either. She could roam as she pleased and the only thing he asked of her was not to bring food and drink in the lab. A rule, as simple as it was, that she never followed...and honestly he never enforced it. Until the day that he accidentally tipped over his specimen vials and they spilled all over the place. Some of it landing in his daughter's drink she had placed on his desk. Jeff cursed softly and went to get some rags to clean up the mess. When he returned he found, to his horror, that his daughter had drained the glass. "What?" she asked him. Her father took her to the hospital and they held her for observation for a few days but she checked out fine. Nothing seemed to be wrong. From then on he refused to let her bring anything else into the lab.

Everything thing went well for the next few years. Jeff felt that he was getting close to what he was trying to do. Until that fateful day shortly before Vicky turned 15 when her parents died in a car accident while they were on the way home from a medical convention. Because she had no other family she was placed into foster care. This was hard on her, the constant bouncing around from family to family. She lashed out in anger at everyone and fell in with the wrong crowd. Getting into trouble was normal now for the once well behaved girl. To this day she didn't know how she graduated high school, just squeezing by.

She ended up in Las Vegas as a stripper shortly after graduating school. She figured the money would be good and she could support herself just fine. She worked there for a few months until she noticed that one certain customer, Nicholas Dalton, was paying her extra attention. He sent her flowers and kept asking her out. At first she refused but his charm slowly pulled her in and they went on their first date. He was older than her by twenty years but she still had a wonderful time and that didn't matter to her. And once he told her that her was the owner of a genetics lab, like the one her father worked for, called Genco she fell for him hard. They married two months after their first date and three months after that she was pregnant with Dennis. She was in heaven once he was born. She had everything she ever wanted. A stable loving family. Nothing could have made it better until she found out when Dennis was six months old that she was expecting Amy. That joy slowly started to fade though when she noticed that her husband started to change. She forgot to tell him about a doctors appointment she had during the late stages of the pregnancy and when she got home he was waiting for her. "Where were you?"

"I had a doctors appointment today."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I'm sorry Nicky. I must have forgot"

He grabbed her wrist and slammed her against the wall. "Don't ever let that happen again"

Stunned she nodded her agreement and he walked away without another word. She just pushed it off as stress on his part. He did work a lot. He was trying to set up another lab in New York and she figured something wasn't going right. A few weeks later she gave birth to Amy. They then moved to New York so her husband could supervise the construction of the new lab. Not long after the move she noticed that he was bringing strange men into her home at odd times. "Nicky, I don't feel right with all these men coming and going." He promptly slapped her across the face. "I didn't ask you for your opinion, did I?"

After that she learned not to get involved anymore. She just did her best to raise her children. But the abuse kept getting worse. Beatings, verbal abuse and even rape if she wasn't a willing partner. Degrading her was his favorite past time. She never did regain her slim figure she had before the kids, and he let her know that. "Fat Bitch" was about the nicest thing he would say. The only real friend she had was the cook, Jenny. Talking to her and the love for her children were the only things that held her together. Jenny always let her talk and gave her support the best she could. They became like sisters.

One night, about 4 months ago, she went to go check on Dennis. He wasn't feeling good and had been sent home from school with a fever. She was walking down the hallway to her son's room, as she was passing her Husbands office she heard him talking to someone "I don't care what his reason is. If he don't do as he is told then kill him. How hard is that to understand?"

"Ok Boss. We will take care of it."

Vicky gasped. What on earth did she marry? This wasn't the Nicky she married was it? Where did it all go wrong... She was so upset that she didn't hear him come out of the office. "So, bitch, listing in on my conversations are we now?"

"No Nicky please I wasn't. I was trying to go check on Dennis." He slapped her. "Liar" he said. Then he hit her some more.

"Daddy Please stop!" Vicky gasped. It was Dennis and he was hanging on his father's arm.

Nicky looked down at the boy in annoyance and slapped him hard enough to split the boy's lip and slam him against the wall. She rushed to her son ripping a piece of cloth off of her night gown to clean the blood off of his face. Then stopped in astonishment as she saw the split in his lip heal itself.

"Well now... What was that?" she heard her husband whisper. She looked at him and saw something in his eyes. "We are going to have to investigate that my boy." Then he turned to the office again and closed the door. Suddenly Vicky was afraid. Not for her but for her son. This fear awakened a desperate plan in her mind. She had to get out with the kids, now. She went back to the bedroom and opened the safe and pulled out the cash Nicky kept there. Then she went and got the kids and quietly led them to Jenny's room. After her friend let her in she looked at her "I need to get the kids out of here. Now. I think he's going to do something to them..." Jenny looked back at her friend and nodded. "Let's go". They took the staff entrance and got into her car and pulled out of the compound. "Where are you going to go?"

"I don't know."

"OK. I'll drive to to a motel and then I'll see about getting you some clothes to hold you over for a few days."

Jenny found them a hotel and got them settled in. "Don't go back there Jenny. I'm scared he will do something to you." Her friend nodded and started to leave. Before she went out the door Vicky placed some money in her hands. "To buy clothes." Then Jenny left. Vicky thought about what had just happened to her son. She thought about that tiny lab accident years ago in her father's lab. Could that have something to do with it? It seemed so harmless at the time... Whatever happens now, she had to keep them safe. Somehow.

Over the next few weeks Jenny came regularly and brought her things they needed. Then one day she just stopped coming. Vicky felt dread growing in her. A fear that was confirmed when she turned the TV on and saw the missing person report of her friend. "No" she whispered. She still had hope until a few days after that when she again turned on the TV. "The body of 24 yr old missing person Jenny Pearson was found today at..." Vicky couldn't listen to it any more. Tears for her lost friend flowed down her face. She tried telling to the police by calling them from her hotel room. Once she told them who she was the other voice on the phone cut in. "Ah yes. Your husband is looking for you. I'd advise you to go back. He might even let you live." She slammed the phone down and fled with the children. She made her way to the nearest train station and bought tickets in her and the children's names but never boarded the train. Hoping to throw him off. She didn't want to leave the city. She felt it was big enough to hide her. Vicky did OK for the next three months. She had snatched a fair size amount of money from her husband but it was starting to dwindle now. Soon she was going to have to figure something out. She was lost in thought about what to do next as she was, once again, moving to another motel when a van pulled up next to her. She looked into the open window and she saw recognition on the face of the passenger. He turned to the driver and said something she couldn't quite make out. Then the van stopped and all the doors opened. "Found you." the passenger said with an evil grin...

"Well, you know the rest." she whispered to Leo. Tears once again filling her eyes.

"You have been through a lot." He said quietly.

"A life time of bad choices more like it." she replied bitterly.

Leo put his hand on her cheek and gently turned her head to face him. "You did the best you could and you made choices you thought were right. There is no need to beat yourself up about it now. All you will do is turn bitter over it." He looked into her eyes "Trust me, I speak from experience."

She nodded and wiped the tears from her eyes.

"So what are your plans now?" he asked.

"I don't know. I still have some money left. Maybe leave the city. I should have done that in the first place..."

"Or you can stay here."

She looked at him in shock. "I couldn't impose on you like that. I've caused you enough problems."

Leo smiled at her. "Not nearly enough as my brothers have managed to cause over the years. You three will be safe here. I talked to the others about it already. They are Ok with it, for the most part...Raph got a little vocal about it. And there was something I'd like to ask your permission to do."

"And what would that be?"

Leo took a deep breath. "I'd like to give you and your children some training. If you do decide to move on at least I know you will able to take care of yourselves."

She looked quietly at him. His concern for them touched her. After years of abuse this was unusual for her but it was a welcome feeling. "I would be honored and grateful." she smiled.

"YAAAAAY! WE ARE GOING TO BE NINJAS!"

Vicky and Leo flinched at the noise. They both looked up to see the others, and the kids, standing there watching them.

"Does privacy mean anything to you guys?" Leo asked.

"Nope." said three voices in return.

Vicky couldn't help it. She started to laugh. This was going to be fun...She needed some fun.


	4. Chapter 4

How in the world did he get stuck doing this? None of this was his idea. Bringing them here wasn't his idea. Training them deifinatly wasn't his idea. Yet here Raph was with the two little tykes in front of him in the dojo. They were facing off with each other doing punching and kicking moves. Moves that didn't even come close to being right. "I'm going to get you for this, Leo" he muttered then stepped up to the kids to try and calm them down. He tried anyway, they were so excited that they wouldn't even listen to him. Finally he had enough. "SIT DOWN!" he yelled.

They stopped and promptly sat down looking up at him. "That's better." He mumbled. "Now first we are going to streach and then we will start practicing. You will listen to exactly what I tell you to do. Got it?" They nodded. "Good. Lets begin."

He showed them some streaches to do and then guided them through how to do them. However he didn't get very far. "OW! Dennis you stepped on my foot!" Amy said.

"I didn't mean to!"

"Yes you did!"

"No I didn't, Poopyhead!"

'Uh-oh' Raph thought as he saw a flash in her eyes. He knew what was coming next. Before he could even begin to stop her she had tackled her brother and was sitting on top of him. She had just raised her hand to hit him when he caught it. "Amy, we never hit out of anger." Where had he heard that before? He sighed. He was beginning to understand what Master Splinter had gone thru all those years ago. "To fight in anger means you fight without control. You never want to loose control. It does more damage than good. Understand?"

"Yeah."

"Good. Now both of you get up and let's try this again."

The rest of the lesson went without anymore problems. They were both quick to learn and caught on very fast to what he was trying to show them. 'Hmm. Maybe this won't be so bad after all.' ran through his mind. After they had practiced enough he called a halt for the day.

"Awww man." Dennis said. "I want to learn that flying kick thingie Leo did."

Raph laughed. "My little friend, you are nowhere near ready to learn that yet. Small stuff first then we get to the big stuff."

"Ooookay." the boy said.

"Don't worry. We will keep practicing. We will do some more tomorrow. Now scoot."

They started to walk out of the dojo. Suddenly Amy came running back and gave him a hug. "Thank you, Uncle Raph." she said. Then she walked off with her brother.

Raph watched her go with astonishment on his face. Then he got a goofy smile. Maybe Leo had a good idea after all... Of course he would never tell his brother that. He chuckled and followed the children out.

Donnie had spent the morning doing research on his computer and he didn't like what he was seeing. He looked at his screen and all his scribbled notes lying around on his desk and sighed.

"And why the big sigh, Donnie?" Leo said as he entered the lab.

"Because I'm hoping I'm wrong."

Leo looked at him curiosly. "What did you find?"

Donnie sighed again. They didn't hear the whole story when they walked up on Leo and Vicky last night. Donnie and his brothers really weren't trying to eavesdrop. But the kids were getting hungry and they had to pass by the couple to get to the kitchen. They came up on them just as Leo was making her the offer to stay so they assumed that they missed all the sensitive stuff. Leo filled them in on her past after he helped her and the kids get settled in for the night. Donnie suspected though that Leo didn't tell them everything. His eyes said he was going to keep it that way too. Donnie figured he didn't need to know about it anyway if it was to private for his prother to share."Well I keep finding way to many conicidents. First off, Genco tried to buy out the lab that Vicky's dad worked at before he died. Deal didn't go through. Next I went searching for any records of Vicky being admitted after she accidently drank her father's samples. Look who was sitting on the board of directors of the hospital at the time." Donnie held up a printed sheet of paper.

Leo took it and read it. "Nicholas Dalton" he whispered.

Donnie nodded."Not only that Genco also supplied the hospital with their lab equipment. And now for the final punch. He was at the same medical convention that Vicky's dad went to that night."

Leo looked at Donnie. "Then he follows her to Las Vegas."

"Leo, I hate to say this but I don't think he married her out of love. Her married her to own whatever it is she has that he needs."

His brother's eyes flashed. "Donnie, you feel like doing a little sleuthing tonight?"

"Well that depends. Where are we sleuthing to?"

"We are going to the Dalton resident."

Donnie's jaw hit the floor.

"Would you look at this place?' Mikey whisperd "It's friggin huge."

"Well guarded too." Raph said noticing the guards and security cameras. Leo knew he was thinking the same thing as his brother. Vicky was lucky to get out. "So, Fearless, how do we get in?"

Leo looked at Raph. "We get onto the roof and find a window. For some reason Guards never look up."

Raph rolled his eyes. "Great plan" He muttered.

He ignored his brother and looked at Donnie. "You got everything you need?"

"Yes."

Leo took a deep breath "Then lets go."

The compound sat in a residential part of the city. It was, as Mikey stated, quite large and surrounded by a wall. The main building was a two story mansion and threre were a lot of smaller buildings scattered around the main house. They stood on the roof of a building next to it but there was over a 50 foot gap between the side of the building they were on and the top of the wall they needed to get over. But once they crossed that gap the main house was pretty close to the wall. It wouldn't be hard to get to the roof. As one the four brothers got their grappling hooks ready and silently threw them to the wall. Then they tied off their ends and slowly started to make their way across. Once on the wall they quietly made their way to the roof. "This way" Donnie whispered and led them to the eastern part of the house. He had studied the blue prints of the house before they left the lair, something Leo was grateful for. Quickly and quietly they crossed the roof following Donnie. Then his brother stopped and pointed down. They were above the window to the office. They were about to lower themselves to the window when they heard talking. Apparently the window was open because they could hear the conversation quite clearly. Leo motioned them all to crouch down in the shadows and they sat and quietly listened.

"She's been spotted here in New York recently. Less than two weeks ago in fact. She still had the little brats with her. Some of my men happened to run into her."

"And these men of yours. They could not capture her?"

"No" the first voice snarled. "Apparently some friends of your Master came to her aid. My men came back telling stories of four big green freaks."

"The Turtles!" The second voice hissed.

"Tell your master that if our plan is to work we need to find them. Everything hinges on this."

"I understand. I will relay this information to Master Shredder upon my return."

The turtles looked at one another in shock. This problem was far bigger than any of them could have thought.

They waited until the voices went away and the compound settled down for the night. Leo, Donnie and Raph slowly and carefully climbed down to the window. Mikey kept watch on the roof. The window was closed now.

Leo looked at Donnie. "Can you open it?" he whispered.

A quick nod was the only reply he got. He quickly reached into a pouch on his belt and pulled out a little tool kit and a small machine. He placed the machine on the window and turned it on. "Cocky bastard," Donnie whispered "He doesn't even have a security alarm on the window. He must feel real safe. Well whatever makes my job easier I suppose." He quickly put the machine away and went to work on opening the window. A short time later the three brothers were in the office.

Leo looked around and found the desk. "Donnie, over there is his computer. Raph, go stand by the door and listen. Let us know if you hear something." Raph nodded and went to the door while his brothers went to the computer. Donnie turned it on. "Go figure. I need a password." He grumbled and fished another device out of his pouch and hooked it up. He punched some buttons on it. "Got it. I'm in." Leo waited while Donnie was searching the computer. He looked at Raph. Raph shook his head. No one moving around out there yet. "I think I found what we need." Came the whisper from the desk. Donnie pulled yet another device out and hooked it up. "I'm going to copy all the files then we can go." Leo nodded to his brother. They waited silently in the dark room.

"OK. That's it." Donnie whispered.

"Someone is coming." Raph said.

"Let's go." Leo hissed.

Donnie turned the computer off and they slipped back out the window. Donnie locked it back up and then the Turtles made their way back out of the compound.

When they got to the lair they found Master Splinter waiting up for them. "How did it go, my sons?"

Leo walked over to him. "Donnie thinks we got what we were looking for but it's more serious than we thought. Sensei, Shredder is involved in this too."

Splinter's eyes went flat. "I see." he said "Maybe it was most fortunate that you found them and brought them here, my son." He laid a hand on Leo's shoulder. "Your instincts serve you well."

Leo nodded and then they followed Donnie and the others into the lab.

They waited as Donnie hooked up the device he used in the office to his computer and started to download the files. None of them spoke as the purple masked turtle started to browse through the information. He sat there for a long while looking at file after file and his face was taking on a very worried expression. He was at it for well over an hour. Finally he took in a sharp breath in horror. "The man is a monster." Donnie whispered.

That sent chills down Leo's spine. "What did you find?"

Donnie took a deep breath to settle his anger. "Here, let me start with Vicky. I was right, he had been keeping an eye on her ever since she had been admitted that day as a child. He has every single piece of medical information from every single time she went to the doctor. Apparently the OBGYN she had seen worked for Nicholas and passed on everything he found. For some reason I still haven't figured out yet, I'll look into it some more, the sample she drank did alter her just a bit. It didn't alter her genetics at all but they bonded with her reproductive system. The result is that all her unfertilized eggs cells she carries have the new genetic make up. Which is the reason her kids can heal like that but she can't."

Leo looked at him stunned. "He knew this would happen?"

"He suspected it would.' Donnie corrected "He wouldn't know for sure until she actually had children. So he waited until she got old enough, married her and got her pregnant. Just so he could have test subjects. And that's exactly what they are to him...test subjects." Donnie pulled up another file. "This is information I found on all the tests that he was planning to do on them once he found out for sure if they could self heal. Leo, the man has no humanity in him..."

Leo went to the screen and looked it over. He was stunned. There was everything from breaking their bones to shooting them to see how the injuries would heal. All he was waiting for was a sign that they could self heal then the tests would begin. Leo felt a rage building inside him. The man had been given a precious gift, something Leo could never have, and he planned on giving them a life of torture and pain. He felt a rage building inside him he couldn't calm. 'How dare he do that those those poor children! How dare he-' Leo's thought broke off as he felt Splinter's calming hand on his shoulder. He struggled but he finally got his anger under control. "What else have you found, Donatello?" Splinter asked.

Donnie pulled up another file. "Apparently he is also working on a growth booster to speed up human development. He is trying to find a way to speed up the childhood and teenage stages. He is planning to inject the growth booster into Vicky's egg cells. The result he is looking for is to have a human that can go from infant to adult in a short period of time that are self healing."

This stunned them all. "How does shredder fit into all of this?" Raph broke the silence.

"Apparently this is a recent development. The original plan was to 'get rid of her'. After she fled Nicholas and Shreddar made a deal however." Donnie closed his eyes and sighed. "Think about it Raph. A human woman has around one million egg cells when she is born but they start dying off shortly after birth. When she hits puberty it's still about three hundred thousand she has left. And of those she only looses three to four hundred during her regular monthly cycles. She is carrying a whole army in her ovaries. An army that Shredder wants...an army of quick growing self healing humans." He looked at his brothers "He wants to turn her into the mother of Shredder's almost indestructible army."

"No..." they heard from behind them. They all turned and looked.

Vicky was standing in the door way. Her eyes wide in horror and tears streaming down her face. She quietly turned and fled the room.


	5. Chapter 5

Vicky didn't mean to eavesdrop on them. She had woke up with a headache and she was hoping Donnie could give her something for it. She figured they should be back from their patrol by now so she got out of bed and left the room the Turtles had set up for her and the kids and went to go see him. She shivered and rubbed her hands over her arms. The lair was chilly tonight. Maybe she should have thrown a robe on over her long t-shirt like nightdress.

The door was wide open to his lab, usually an invitation to come in if it was closed everyone knocked, so she walked into the lab. She stopped when she realised they were all there and deep into discussion with grim looks on their faces. Vicky somehow knew it had to do with her so she remained silent and listened and horror overcame her as she did. Finally she couldn't hold it back anymore. "No..." Five sets of eyes turned to her but she didn't see them, she just turned and fled the room.

Vicky didn't want to go back to her room for fear of waking Dennis and Amy. She wanted to be alone but didn't know where to go. As of their own accord her feet led her to Leo's room. She felt comfortable here, having spent the first few days in this room until they had finally managed to gather up some beds for her family and got them settled in down the hall. She collapsed next to the perfectly made bed, placed her arms on it and buried her head in her arms and cried. How had her life come to this? How could she have been so stupid? Why couldn't she see past her loneliness to see what kind of man Nicholas really was? Why did she stay with him? Why, why, why...?

She heard the door close softly and then she felt Leo, she immediately knew it was him, kneel down next to her. He softly turned her to him and put his arms around her. She collapsed against his chest and cried. "I'm sorry." he whispered softly in her ear. "I'm so sorry. We didn't know you were standing there." She didn't reply but let his comforting embrace surround her. Slowly her tears and sobbing started to die down as Leo still gently held her close to him. He felt so warm to her, soothing. Finally she took a deep breath and let it out. "No, you didn't do nothing wrong, Leo. I was the one that snuck up on you guys."

"I guess that doesn't say a lot about our ninja skills."

She couldn't help it, she smiled. He always seemed to make her feel better. "I guess not." she replied.

He didn't make a move to release her and Vicky was glad for that. She just wanted to stay in his warm embrace. She would stay that way as long as he would let her. "How did you find all this out? She asked him.

Leo took a deep breath. "Well, we went a little farther out than we usually do for our patrol round tonight. I must say the house would be so much nicer with out all the guards surrounding it. It takes away from the landscaping."

Stunned she looked up at him. "You broke into the _house_? _Why_? You could have been killed!"

He smiled down at her, their faces just inches apart. "Well it was pretty easy. Now trying to break into Shredder's place. That's the tricky one."

"You didn't answer my question. Why did you risk your life for this?"

"Because I...we want to help. We can't help if we don't know what's going on. Figured your husband's office was a good place to start."

Vicky looked into hie eyes. "Tell me...Did he kill my parents?"

"We don't know for sure. Donnie seems to think he did. But we have no proof on it. Yet."

She dropped her head back on his chest and felt tears forming up in her eyes again. "He took everything from me." she whispered into his chest.

"Not everything. You made it out with Dennis and Amy." He placed a finger under her chin and gently lifted her face to his, looking deep in her eyes "And you have me." He whispered. They stayed that way for a few seconds, their eyes locked into each others, faces just inches apart. She could feel the tension between them. She knew he wanted to kiss her but also knew he wouldn't unless she wanted it. 'Do i want this? Do I trust him?' she asked herself 'Yes.' came the immediate reply.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him towards her. Their lips met and it was like fire against Vicky's skin. They deepened the kiss and she let out a soft moan of pleasure. She brought her hands down from his neck and over his plastron to the buckles holding his harness on then slowly undid them. They broke the kiss so Leo could place the harness, and it's contents, safly out of the way.

He immeadietly moved right back in. This time not to kiss her but to nibble on her neck. She leaned her head back to give him all the room he needed, enjoying the sensation of his teeth lightly grazing her skin. She ran her arms over the well muscled but gentle arms holding her close, feeling the heat of his skin. She felt his fingertips lightly caress her side downwards until it reached her thigh, where it slipped under the hem of her nightdress. He then ever so lightly touched her mound, but is was enough to send a shock though her body. She moaned and arched back but Leo's other arm held her steady and close to him.

She brought her head back up and kissed him again as she felt his hand tugging on her underwear. She slightly raised her hips for him and he swiftly but carefully pulled them down her thighs to her knees. Then he brought that teasing finger back up and gently brushed it in between the folds of her skin. Her mouth still on his she let out another moan and started to move her hips, grinding her hot flesh against that teasing finger. He complied to the unspoken request and gently slipped his finger in her now wet cavity. "Oh, Leo" she breathed against his lips as a new fire awoke in her nether regions. "Leo..."

He slid her underwear all the way off then tossed them onto the floor and then gently picked her up. She began to nuzzle his neck as he placed her softly onto the bed then lay down next to her. Leaning in for another kiss as his hand slid back down her body to gently caress her womanhood once more. Slowly he moved the finger back in and she thrust her hip up to his hand. She returned his kiss with fire her tounge meeting his and caressing it.

He gently pulled her up to a sitting position then his hands moved the the hem of her nightgown, slowly raising it up. She knew this moment was coming but she couldn't help the doubt growing inside her. What if he didn't like her? She didn't have that figure anymore that she had at 18, not to mention the streach marks, and that had always been cruelly thrown in her face the last few years. She couldn't help but to hear Nicholas' voice in her head, no matter how hard she tried to ignore it. _Fat bitch. Scarred hag_. The shirt came over her head and Leo tossed it to the floor. _Look at those ugly breasts, what sane man would touch them?_ She sat trembling in front of Leo. _Ugly whore. Look at that fat-_ "Your beautiful" Leo whispered to her. And with those two words he silenced the doubts in her head.

Leo took a moment to take off his elbow and knee pads and toss them onto the floor along side her clothing. Then he laid her back down gently on the bed and nuzzled her neck, slowly working his way down. She felt so good on his skin, so soft. Hearing her moan sent shivers down his spine and he was glad that he was the cause of the pleasant sound.

He had made his way to her right breast and softly began to nibble on it while his hand softly caressed the left one. Moaning she ran her hands lightly on his neck. Her touch felt electrifying to him. She pulled him back up to her and they kissed once more. He felt one of her hands slowly glide down his side and brush the area where his thigh met his plastron. That gentle touch made him gasp and he let out a slight churr. He looked into her brown eyes and saw slight amusement there at the sound. Then she brushed him again, releasing another churr. He then saw a question in her eyes and he took her hand and led it to the slit in his plastron she was looking for. It was already swelling with arousal. She gently stroked him as their mouths came together again.

The feeling was overwhelming and he let out a louder churr as he finally slipped out of confinement and into her hand. He broke the kiss and gasped as her hand closed around his shaft and began to move it back and forth. The hand continued it gentle movements until Leo couldn't bear it anymore. He needed be be inside her, to feel her... He spread her legs and positioned himself between them. He paused long enough to look in her eyes and make sure this is what she really wanted too.

She reached up and removed the only thing that either one of them still wore, his mask, then she nodded. Slowly he lowered himself and thrust into her. She moaned and arched back into the bed, bringing her legs up around him. They moved as one, her arching hips meeting his thrusting pelvis. The moans and soft cries of pleasure filling Leo's ears. He knew she was getting close to release by the way she was tightening around him. Then with a long low moan, he felt her muscles clamp down against him as he moved inside her and he couldn't hold back anymore.

Spent and supporting himself on trembling arms he lowered himself to kiss her softly on the cheek as she lay breathing heavily under him. He then laid down next to her and pulled her into his arms before he pulled the cover over them. The last thing he thought was 'How am I going to tell the others...' before he drifted off to sleep.

Mikey chuckled as he continued to walk to his room. He was on his way to bed when he passed Leo's door and heard some _very_ interesting sounds coming from the other side. He decided to bring the idea of a sound proof door up to Donnie when he had a chance...

Dennis was sitting at the kitchen table with his sister eating breakfast. Mikey had made him some scrambled eggs this morning. He loved scrambled eggs, his sister didn't. She was weird like that. He didn't know where Mommy was. She was already up and out of the room when he woke up. Donnie and Raph walked in and started to fix themselves some breakfast. Master Splinter was making him some tea.

"Hey, lookit what I can do." his sister said. They all looked and she had her cereal spoon hanging off of her nose. "Cool, huh?"

"Mommy gonna fuss at you." Dennis warned her. She took the spoon down and stuck her tounge out at him.

"Looks like we are missing a couple of bodies this morning." Raph said

Mikey chuckled. Donnie looked at him. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing..." Then he nodded towards the spot where Dennis and Amy were sitting. 'Why did he do that?' crossed the boy's mind. Donnie's eyes got big and then he grinned. Raph smacked his hand to his forhead. "Nice job, Fearless..." He muttered. Master Splinter just sighed and drank his tea.

Dennis was a bit confused about what was going on but he didn't let that bother him. He just wished Leo would hurry and get up. He liked Leo the best. He always told him the best stories...

Suddenly Leo burst into the kitchen. His eyes were wide. "She's gone."

"What?" Raph asked.

"She's gone. She snuck out last night. We have to find her. I Have a feeling I know where she is going. Let's go. NOW!" The three brothers forgot about breakfast and ran out of the kitchen to follow Leo.

Suddenly Dennis didn't want his breakfast any more. Amy didn't look like she wanted her's either. Master Splinter walked over to them and laid a hand on their shoulders. "Do not worry. They will find her. Come with me, I will train you today." Dennis smiled and Amy giggled. They loved this ninja stuff. They were so excited that they didn't see Splinter's worried expression as he looked at the exit his sons had ran through.


	6. Chapter 6

Vicky was scared but she wasn't going to let that stop her from what she planned to do. She made her way across the city, heading towards the residential district that she used to call home. The sun had made it's way into the sky by now, it had been about to rise when she quietly left the lair, and Leo.

That thought brought her mind back to last night and she shivered with pleasure. He had been so gentle with her, so careing. Never before had she felt that with anyone else. She longed to be back there in his arms. She shook her head to clear her thoughts. No she had to do this. To protect Dennis and Amy. To protect Leo...

She couldn't have him risking his life to deal with her problems. The fact that he snuck into the mansion last night sent chills down her spine. What could have happened to him ran through her mind. No, she had to prevent that. She had to try and make things right again...

Suddenly she felt hands grab her from behind. Shocked she let out a cry and a hand quickly covered her mouth. A figure all in black dropped to the ground in front of her from the roof overhead. "Inform the Master that we have found the woman." He said then looked at her "You should not have run away, Mrs. Dalton. Your husband has been looking for you. He will be most anxious to see you."

They raced across the rooftops as fast as they could, Leo in the lead. He knew where she was going and he thought he knew what she was planning to do. They had to get to her first. 'Damn it, why didn't I see this coming. I knew she was upset about these events. Why didn't I feel her slip out of my arms...' She had felt so good next to him. He awoke with his bed feeling so cold and empty without her in it. When she was there he had felt so, so...

" 'Relaxed' is the word your looking for, Leo." Raph said to him as he ran along side his brother.

"What?"

"She managed to slip away from you because you let all of your guards down. You were completely open to her. Or as Mikey would say, 'You had your ninja turned off.' "

Leo threw a shocked glance at his brother. "How did you-"

Raph chuckled. "Do I really need to tell you?"

"Mikey." Leo sighed.

"He just happened to hear you two is all. You _do_ have that flimsy door, you know."

They flipped over a gap in the rooftops caused by a narrow ally. They landed without breaking stride and continued on. Leo said to his brother "You don't approve, do you?"

Raph was quiet for a moment. "Leo, I'll admit that at first I was against it all. You bringing them to the lair, wanting to train them and yes even what happened between you and her last night took me off guard. But If she makes you happy then I'm all in for it. Hell, maybe she can take that rigid stick you have been carrying all these years in your ass out and break it on your head." then he smiled "Besides, the kids are growing on me."

Leo looked at his brother. "Thank you, Raph."

"No problem, Leo. We have had our differences over the years but I'll always be here for you."

"Same here, Leo." Donnie said from his other side.

"Ditto, dude" Mikey chimed in.

Leo looked around at his brothers and nodded. Then focused his thoughts. It was time to get his happiness back...

They had brought her to the house. After the strange clothed men caught her, they placed her in the back of a van and locked her in. She couldn't help a small nervous chuckle as they struggled to get through morning rush hour traffic. 'We would get there quicker by walking' she thought. After a while of trying to fight the city streets they had arrived. The one place she needed to go to but she never wanted to be again. Waiting for them in the lobby, between the twin set of curved staircases leading to the second floor, was the one man she never wanted to see again. "Well now, look who has finally come home." Nicholas said "Where are the kids?"

"Safe and away from you!" She hissed at him.

He slapped her. "Now, let me ask again. Where are they?"

"Go to hell."

He slapped her again, harder this time. "Now you know it's not nice to keep children from their father." He brought his face closer to hers. "Where are they?"

"With someone who deserves the honor of being their father more than you do. You will never deserve that right."

This time he punched her. The pain exploded in her face but she stubbornly stayed on her feet and defiantly turned her head back to face him. "This stubbornness isn't usual for you. I thought I beat it out of you a long time ago."

"Well, you thought wrong."

He raised his fist to hit her again but was interrupted. "Boss, the doc you wanted to see is here."

Nicholas turned to face the man who spoke to him. "Good. Tell him to go to the basement lab and-"

Vicky used that moment of inattention. Quickly she reached for the knife she had brought with her hidden inside the light jacket she wore. He was close enough to where she could end the threat to her children with one knife stroke to the heart. She thrust the knife towards him. However before it could touch him a hand flashed out and caught her forearm. Then it squeezed until she cried out in pain and dropped the knife. She turned to see who had her arm and froze in fear.

The man was tall, almost seven feet, and heavily muscled but that wasn't what filled her with fear. He was dressed in metal armor with blades coming out of it in various places. He wore a helmet and mask that left his eyes free and those eyes brought her no comfort. Instead they filled her with fear and dread. "This is the woman?" he asked Nicholas in a deadly quiet voice.

"Yes, my lord Shredder. This is the one we need."

"Very well. I see no further need to delay. Let us proceed immediately."

"As you wish." Nicholas reached down and picked up the knife she had dropped. He then placed the point to her chin. "If you behave I might let you live but if you don't, believe me when I tell you I have no problem with killing you and placing what I need in cold storage."

Suddenly something, a metal star?, flashed in front of her eyes at a downward angle and hit Nicholas in the arm holding the knife. The force of impact pulling the knife away from her face. He screamed in pain and anger as blood began to soak into his suit sleeve where the star had lodged into his arm.

A mere second later something crashed into Shredder and that impact landed them both on to the floor as he held the grip on her arm. He, however, released his grip and she quickly rolled away from him. She looked up to see what had happened.

"Leo." she breathed. He was facing off with the tall human. She watched as the two came together in a flash of quick moves that she could barely follow. Leo was beautiful to watch, his moves graceful and fluid. He took her breath away with his skill. A complete contrast to Shredder who had speed and power but no grace.

She felt someone grab her under her arms. She looked up to see Raph trying to help her up. "Are you alright?"

She nodded. "Good, then lets move. He can't hold Shredder back for long."

She nodded again as Raph got her on her feet.

When she got her balance Raph started to push her to the main doors of the house where Mikey and Donnie were trying to clear a path out. Apparently Shredder had brought some of his own men to the compound. As they reached the door and Raph placed her in the middle of the three brothers. "Stay close." he told her. Then he helped his brothers and they broke through to the outside. "LEO! We're clear!" Raph shouted over the commotion.

Once outside they noticed more figures rushing towards them. Donnie looked around and saw the van that they brought her in sitting not far away. "The van! Get in it!"

"What about Leo?" Vicky asked as Mikey pulled her towards the van.

"He'll be OK. Trust me. Now get in!" and Mikey pushed her into the back of the van as Donnie sat in the drivers seat mumbling under his breath and trying to hotwire it.

Vicky kept her eyes glued to the front of the house as the brothers fought off the men starting to surround the van. "Where are you..." She whispered. Finally, just as Donnie got the van to fire up, she saw Leo rush through the door way. "Leo! Over here dude!" Mikey called to him.

Leo started running to the van. There was a group of men between him and the van but it didn't seem to concern him as he ran up to them flipping high into the air over them and taking out 2 of them with a split kick as he came back down. A instant after that he was next to Mikey and Raph. "Get in" he told them. He held the men off as his brothers climbed in. As they turned back towards the doors to grab the handles, Leo flipped into the van with a backroll. "Punch it, Donnie!"

Donnie slammed on the accelerator as Mikey and Raph managed to close the doors. "Hang on guys! This is going to be a bit bumpy!" The van then crashed through the gates and into the street. Donnie made a hard left turn and Vicky was flung to the right side of the van. Before she hit the van wall Leo grabbed her and pulled her close to him. "Hang on to me." he told her.

Donnie finally got the van straightened out and the ride became much smoother. Leo looked at her "Are you OK?" She nodded, then he pulled her close to him "Don't ever do that again." he whispered. She held him tight. "I'm so sorry..."

"Uh, guys, I hate breaking up the reunion but we aren't out of the woods yet." Mikey said as he was looking out the back van window.

Leo got up and looked out the other window and began cursing under his breath. "Donnie! We got three SUVs tailing us!" He yelled to his driving brother.

"And what do you want me to do? Pull over and tell them to go away!?" came the annoyed reply.

"Smartass." Raph muttered.

"Try and shake them!" Leo said.

"I AM!"

Suddenly there was a popping sound and the window that Leo had been looking out of just moments before shattered.

"Dudes! So not cool! They are shooting at us!" Mikey said as he dropped down to the floor of the van.

Suddenly the van made a hard turn to the right and they were all thrown to the left side of the van. "Could you warn us next time before you do that!?" Raph yelled at Donnie.

"Do you want to drive!" Donnie shot back.

"Next time, yes!"

"We lost one." Leo spoke up from where he was looking out the window again. "He couldn't make the turn and flipped."

"Great...That only leaves us with two." Raph said, his voice filled with sarcasm.

Leo ducked down again as they started to fire at them once more. Above him the other window shattered.

"Guys, I'm not having fun anymore." Mikey said.

"Shut up, Mikey." his three brothers replied as one.

Leo popped his head back up to the window, looked at their unwelcome followers for a moment, then dropped back down as gun fire rang out once more. "I got and idea."

"About time. I was starting to wonder if your brain still worked." came from Raph.

"Will you just hush and listen? They are driving side by side. Mikey is going to open the doors and we take out the front tires. The left one on one and the right one the other. How good is your throwing arm?"

"Good enough for that. Let's do it."

Leo and Raph positioned themselves on either side of Mikey who was ready to open the doors. "One, two, three...NOW!"

Mikey opened the doors and as one Leo and Raph stood up and threw something Vicky couldn't quite make out. Suddenly, almost at the exact same time, the front tires closest to the other SUV blew out. The result was the two vehicles swerving towards the inside and crashing into each other. Vicky watched, stunned, as both vehicles flipped and rolled along the street a few times. "Ha ha! Take that suuuuuckers!" Mikey yelled.

Raph smacked him on the back of the head. "Knock it off and help me close the doors back up."

After the doors were closed the three brothers sat on the floor of the van as Donnie drove them to safety.

"Well that didn't go according to plan." Leo said as he pulled Vicky back into his arms.

"It didn't?" she asked him.

"No. The original plan was to sneak in, knock some heads, grab you and sneak out again. All that went wrong when we noticed that Shredder had entered to scene. A head on attack wasn't even close to the original idea."

"You mean..."

"Yup," Raph interrupted "Ol' Fearless here was flying by the seat of his pants and winging it."

Leo shrugged. "Nobody is perfect..."


	7. Chapter 7

Dennis and Amy were playing a board game with Master Splinter when Leo walked into the lair followed closely by the others.

"We are back, Sensei." He said walking towards his master.

The children looked up. "Mommy!" they ran to give her a hug. She knelt down and took them into her arms and returned their hug.

"Where did you go, Mommy?" Amy asked.

"I went to go see, Daddy."

"Oh, well I'm glad I didn't go." Dennis said. "I don't like Daddy. He's mean. I wish we had a new one."

Vicky pulled Dennis into a hug. "I know, sweetie." Leo's heart went out to the boy. The things the poor child had to go through from a man who should love and cherish him.

"Mommy come into the dojo! I wanna show you what Masta Splinty showed us!" Amy grabbed her mother's arm and led her into the dojo. Dennis, follwing them, chimed in "Yeah! It was soooo Cool!"

Leo could have sworn he saw a small smile on his master's furred face as he watched them go into the dojo. Then he turned his attention to the brothers. "Is anyone hurt?"

"Us not really, them a lot." Raph answered.

"It could have been worse. We got lucky." Donnie said.

"How so, my son?"

Leo took a deep breath. "Shredder was there." He told Splinter.

"Yeah and Fearless here decided he wanted a personal sparring session with him." Raph said.

Surprise and alarm was in Splinter's eyes as he looked at Leo. Usually when they took on Shredder the outcome was a lot of cuts and bruises, sometimes even worse. Even after all these years they couldn't handle him as a group and Leo had no idea how he managed to take him on one on one for as long as he did. Splinter was the only one of them that could take Shredder on like that. Then he saw something else in his master's eyes, as if he had come to a realisation. "Come with me, Leonardo."

"Yes, Sensei." Leo followed his master into his bedroom.

"Leo is in trooouble" (smack) "OW!" Leo smiled. Some things never change.

He entered Splinter's room and his master closed the door behind him. "Sit, my son." Leo sat crosslegged on the floor and Splinter took a seat on the floor across from him. "Tell me, Leonardo, why did you decide to face Shredder alone?"

Leo thought back to that moment. He and his brothers were hidden on the balcony of the second story trying to figure out the best way to proceed from there. The appearence of Shredder had thrown them all off guard. Though their master has taught them everything they knew they just couldn't seem to take him on. He was at a level they couldn't reach. When he had seen Shredder's hand on Vicky's arm something fired up in Leo. 'I can do this.' He stood up, to the surprise of his brothers, with a throwing star in hand. He threw it at the arm that Nicholas held the knife with. Not even looking to see if he hit his mark, and ignoring his brother's shocked cries, he leapt off the balcony and crashed into Shredder. He quickly rolled to his feet and turned to face the leader of the Foot. Somehow matching him strike for strike. Then he heard Raph call out the all clear and he lost his momentum and Shredder had gotten a kick in that sent him flying towards the door. Leo didn't push his luck and he turned and fled.

"I don't know, Sensei. I just felt I could. And for a little while I did."

Splinter looked at him a long moment. "I have taught you everything I could. You and your brothers are exceptionally skilled and have improved greatly over the years. However, there is skill I cannot teach. A level of fighting only a very few can obtain. I believe, my son, that you may be coming close to unlocking this for yourself"

Leo looked at his master. "Why have you never told us of this?"

"Because it is so rare to achive. I did not want you to doubt the skills you do posess."

"So what happens now, Master?"

"I honestly do not know. This is something you must find for yourself because in each individual it is a different lock." his master placed a hand on his shoulder "It is up to you to find the key."

Leo nodded his eyes lost in thought.

Vicky sat in the kitchen with and ice pack on her face. The spot where Nicholas punched her on the cheek had started to swell up and hurt. Dennis was watching cartoons with Mikey and Amy was in the lab with Donnie, apparently pestering him to make her something. Leo was still talking to Splinter so she had the room to herself to think. God she had been so stupid...again. What on earth had she been thinking to try that stunt? And the very thing happened she had been trying to prevent. She had put Leo in danger.

"Want to talk about it?" came a voice from behind her.

She looked up and Raph came from behind her, walked around the table and sat across from her. She sighed. "I really screwed up, didn't I?"

"No worse than I have a time or twenty. You just let your emotions do the thinking for you is all." Raph grinned at her "Trust me...I'm an expert on that. I can't tell you how many times Leo had to pull my ass out of the fire."

She smiled. "He is useful to have around, isn't he?"

"Most of the time." He smiled back at her.

She looked down to the table. "I feel so stupid." she whispered "I could have gotten you all hurt, or worse."

"Hey. You were confused. You had to take in a lot information last night...among other things."

She caught his meaning and began to blush. "Do you guys know _everything?_"

He acted like he didn't notice her red face. "Well you _are_ living with five ninjas. It's hard to keep anything secret here for long." He grinned "Seriously now, no one could expect you to make any rational choices in that state of mind. We don't blame you. We care for you, and those two little tykes of yours, and we will be there if you need us. Just next time talk to us first, OK? That disappearing act you pulled this morning almost gave Leo a heart attack." he chuckled.

She giggled. "I'll have to make that up to him."

"Might want to talk to Donnie about a better bedroom door first..."

Vicky blushed again.

Raph reached out and placed a hand on top of hers. "It took me awhile to get used to the idea of you guys being here but you make my brother happy. That is all I need to know to welcome you into the family. From here on out I will think of you as a sister. If you need anything you just let me know."

"Well spoken, my son." Splinter said as he entered the kitchen. Leo followed close behind and sat down at the table next to her. "I have misjudged you. Maybe you _do_ know how to show compassion."

Raph blushed a bit."Yeah, well don't tell the others...I have a reputation to maintain."

The kitchen filled with the sound of laughter.

Leo was looking for Dennis. It was time to start getting ready for bed and he had promised the boy a bedtime story. Leo chuckled at that thought, before they came here he never thought of things like that before. His life had changed so much the last few weeks but he was glad for this kind of change. He found the boy in the dojo, trying apparently to spin kick the punching bag.

"What are you doing, Dennis?"

"I'm trying to learn how to do that flying kick thingie you did. Please, Leo. Show me one more time. Please."

Leo sighed. "Ok. Here watch me first. Back up though, I don't want to hit you by mistake." Dennis scooted back out of reach. Leo looked at the bag and took a deep breath. Then suddenly he leapt up into the air in a spin and his leg reached out. He hit the bag with his foot and the bag flew backwards with the momentum of the impact. He completed the spin and landed with his body close to the floor, one leg bent , one leg streached out and resting on his finger tips and the bag swung back over him. He then reached up to stop the wildly swinging bag.

"Whoa! That is soooo Cool!" Dennis exclaimed as Leo stood up. "I wanna try again!"

Leo watched as the little boy moved up to the bag. Dennis frowned then hopped up into the air swinging his leg out, completely missing the bag and fell to the mat on the floor. Leo chuckled a little as the boy got up. "Dang it!" he muttered then squared off with the bag again.

"Hang on," Leo said to the boy "you want to square yourself up like this." he then positioned the boy. "When you leap into the air you want to use both feet to push off. When you are in the air you start to bring your upper body around. That turn will give you the momentum you need. Try doing that for a bit first. Then we will work the kick in."

"Like this?" Then the boy jumped in the air, spun and landed promptly on his bottom.

Leo laughed. "Not quite."

He worked with the boy for a bit longer. By the time Leo called a halt, the boy was growing tired, they had worked a small kick in. Dennis caught on surprisingly quickly.

"Dennis!" Vicky called "It's time to take a bath and get ready for bed."

"Coming, Mommy!" Dennis replied, then he turned and gave Leo a hug. "Thank you, Leo. I wish I had a daddy like you. You are so cool!" then he rushed out of the room. Leo couldn't help but smile after the boy then he walked out of the dojo. He didn't get far when Amy found him, her hair still damp from her bath and in her pajamas. She was holding a book. "I want you to read me a story, please." she told him.

"Don't you think we should wait for your brother?"

"No, I want you to read a story just for me."

Leo laughed and picked her up and carried her to bed. After she got all settled down he sat on the floor to read her the story. He was just about finished when Dennis, by now also finished with his bath and in pajamas, came in. "Hey what about me? I wanted a story too!."

Leo looked at him "Well get into bed and I'll read another one."

Dennis hopped into bed, squirmed around a bit and then settled down. Leo began to read again, the same story of course because Dennis had wanted that one too. When he finished he stood up to leave the room. "One more story!" they chimed together.

Vicky, who was leaning onto the door frame listing, cut in "I think you guys have pestered him enough for one night. It's bedtime now. Tell Leo thank you and goodnight."

"Thank you." they said together. Amy held out her arms to him "I want a huggy."

Smiling Leo leaned over and gave her a hug. "Good night you two. We'll play some more tomorrow."

"Gnight, Leo." "Nighty night, Leo."

He placed the book on the nightstand and then moved out of the way so Vicky could tell them her goodnights. He walked back to his room, noteing in annoyance the new soundproof door, and went in and sat on the bed. He opened his nightstand drawer and pulled out his cleaning kit then began to wipe down his katanas. He was tired, it had been a very busy day.

He knew she was there before she even knocked on his door frame. He looked up from what he was doing, "You look tired." he told her.

"I am. Its been a long day." she replied moving into the room and sitting on the bed next to him.

"And a long night before that..." Leo looked at her. Anger flashed across his mind when he saw the bruise forming on her cheek. "You OK?"

She took a deep breath and looked at him. "Leo, I just wanted to say I'm so sorry for what I did."

Leo carefully sheathed his katanas and unhooked his harness. Then he put it aside. He reached for her and pulled her close. "Don't worry about it anymore." He whispered into her ear. "We made it back fine. There isn't any more need to bring it up again." He softly kissed her unhurt cheek.

"Leo what are we going to do?"

"I don't know yet. We will figure something out. But until we do please, for my sanity, don't run off like that again. I've grown to fond of you to lose you now."

She looked up at him and smiled. "I promise. I'll just run off with Raph instead."

Leo groaned. "That's even worse... Do you have any idea how much trouble he can get into?"

"Apparently a lot, from the stories I hear."

Mikey popped his head around the door frame. "Hey you guys gonna do anything tonight? I want to see if this new door Donnie and I made works better than the old one."

He was answered with a pillow thrown into his face and the sound of Vicky's laughter.


	8. Chapter 8

It had been six weeks. A month and a half! Why could they not find her? Nicholas paced his office in fury. There had been sightings of the green freaks that took her from his grasp but they either disappeared or straight up beat the tar out of his men, then disappeared. He had a lot riding on this, his life being the most important thing. Shredder did not take well to disappointment and he could tell them large man was loosing his patience.

As if his thought had summoned the man, his office door banged open and the tall muscular human entered. "Have you found her?"

"No, lord Shredder. The Turtles have been seen but my men are no match for those green freaks and only they know where she is."

"You surround your self with incompetence."

"I surround myself with the best men I can get. But they are no match against the likes of your men and those freaks. They just don't have the training."

Shredder's eyes narrowed. "If I give you men, do you have a plan?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact I do." Nicholas said "To catch a sneaky animal you need bait. If we bait the hook just right maybe we can get our hands on the prize we seek."

"Very well. But do not fail me in this or it will be the last time you fail."

"Understood, my lord." Nicholas bowed slightly as the ninja master left.

.

.

Donnie was working in his lab when he heard a knock on the door. Dennis had a birthday coming up and he was trying to make the lil guy a remote controlled car. "Come in." he said not looking up.

"Donnie, do you have a minute?" it was Vicky.

"Sure," he turned to face her. "what do you need?"

She came in and closed the door. Then she walked slowly to Donnie. He noticed her face looked pale. "Donnie can, um, c-can you guys," she stopped to take a long deep breath to steady herself "Can you guys reproduce with a human?"

Donnie tilted his head a bit and looked at her, his eyes finally going wide as he processed what she was asking.

"Donnie, I think I'm pregnant..."

The crash of Donnie's chair tipping over, with him in it, was very loud...

.

.

Leo was stunned speechless. Donnie and Vicky came into the kitchen while the others were getting ready for lunch and broke the news that she was indeed pregnant. Leo looked from Donnie to Vicky then back again. "How, I mean what, why-"

"I think what Leo is trying to spit out is, How is this possible?" Raph translated for his dumbstruck brother.

Leo just pointed at his brother and nodded, not trusting himself to speak.

"Well as close as I can tell his mutated sperm got along very well with her genetically altered egg cell. Something in the mix up made the two compatible. I won't be able to tell for sure exactly until the child is born." He smiled at Leo "Congratulations, you fell in love with the only woman in the human race that can give you a child."

Leo walked up to Vicky and wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. She returned his hug. "I take it this means your happy?" she asked him with a smile.

Leo fought back the tears. "More than you could ever know."

"Dude this is sooo cool!" Mikey slapped Leo on the shell.

Splinter walked up with a smile on his face and placed a hand the shoulder of each parent. "Congratulations to you both."

Dennis and Amy looked confused about the whole thing. "Whats going on?" Dennis finally asked.

Vicky laughed and sat down next to her children. "I'm going to have a baby. Your going to have a little brother or sister."

"OH YAY!" Amy cried giving her mother a hug.

Dennis didn't quite look so thrilled at first. "I hope it's a boy" He said finally. "I don't want another sister." then he smiled and gave Vicky a hug.

"I gotta call Casey." Raph smiled "April is never gonna let us live this down if we don't tell her."

Casey and April arrived a little over an hour later, with pizza, and Mikey popped into DJ Mikey mode. Needless to say the lair was quite noisy for awhile. Leo just smiled and enjoyed the company of his family. It wasn't very often that they had a reason to celebrate like this...even if the noise did get on his nerves, Leo was to happy to care.

.

.

Nicholas was standing in his office looking out the window when he heard a knock at the door. "Enter." He said.

"Boss, Shredder's men just arrived."

Nicholas turned to face the man. "Good. Send them in here and I'll brief them on the plan. It's time to get my runaway family back."

.

.

Leo was laying in bed holding Vicky close to him. He still couldn't process the events of the day and he laid awake next to her just happy to be holding her close. The last month had flown by. Vicky, Dennis and Amy joined the rest of the family now for training. The children were grasping things very quickly. Leo smiled at the thought of Dennis trying to get the hang of that tricky flying spin kick. He was a very determined little boy. Amy, they had discovered, had a knack for pressure points. 'They get it from their mother' he thought.

Vicky was just as quick to learn as her children. Her area of strength seeming to be blocks and jabs. She wasn't flexible enough to get any decent kicks in...yet. They were working on that and not just in the dojo either...Leo shivered at the thought of what happens between them once the bedroom door was closed for the night. She was so full of passion and fire. Leo couldn't imagine living his life without her. He had thought he had everything he ever needed...until today. Today he found out she could give him something he thought he never could have. He pulled her even closer. "I love you." he whispered into her ear. He laid his hand on her lower stomach where the new life was growing and once again tears of happiness filled his eyes. "I love you so much."

She opened her eyes an looked at him. Her brown eyes meeting his blue ones. "I love you, too." He leaned in to gently kiss her. That's as far as it went until he heard a knock on the door.

"Leo," Donnie said as he opened the door just slightly so he couldn't see in "its time to go on patrol."

"Alright, Donnie I'm coming." 'At least he knocks' Leo thought. Mikey and Raph would just barge in. Vicky learned to stay under the covers if she wasn't 'presentable'. He kept meaning to ask Donnie to put a lock on his door but the thought kept slipping from his mind. He got out of bed and put his gear on. Then he leaned in to kiss the woman in his bed.

She returned his kiss, "Please be careful."

"I will." he whispered to her then slipped out of the room.

Two hours later the turtles were running the roof tops on patrol. Leo was still on top of the world. He couldn't believe it. He was going to be a _father_. Something he never dreamed could happen to him. He already loved Vicky but her being able to give him this precious gift. He couldn't find the words to express his feelings. He was sure that his brothers were getting sick of his goofy expression though.

Suddenly he called a halt. Something didn't feel right. He started to slowly look around, feeling uneasy.

"Leo, what is it." Raph asked quietly.

"Something is out-" He saw the light glance of something metal. Something that shouldn't be there. "Get out of here! It's a trap!"

They turned back the way they came from as the rooftop they were about to cross came alive with Foot Soldiers. 'Shit!' thought Leo as they ran. 'There must be at least twenty of them.' Though they brought the fight to this many in the past it was usually a planned attack where surprise was on their side. He needed to find a way to even the odds, and quick.

Then he saw what he was looking for, a gutted out building undergoing renovations. He quickly led his brother to it and once inside they hid in the shadows. Then the game of cat and mouse began, with the four mice stalking the cats. They began, slowly one by one, to take out the Foot soldiers. Striking them lightning fast then disappearing back into the shadows. Raph swung his body down from a crossbeam and kicked one in the head then flipped back up onto the beam and disappeared in the shadows. Mikey came out from behind a pillar to knock out another and flipped back into hiding. Donnie had it easy he just waited on top of the crossbeams and when one got to far from his companions he would just knock them out with his staff and move to a new location.

They kept this up, weaving in between the support pillars and floating on the crossbeams, until Leo heard Mikey cry out in pain. Leo forgot all about stealth and ran towards where the sound came from. He rounded a pillar to the sight of Shredder's honor guard, his best soldiers, standing over the form of his fallen brother. Without hesitation he put himself between Mikey and the warriors. He then engaged the men to keep their attention away from Mikey's still form.

Donnie and Raph appeared out of the shadows to help their fallen brother. "He's alive." Donnie said "Just knocked out."

"Get him out of here!" Leo yelled. He had seen the Foot soldiers starting to regroup behind the honor guard.

"But, Leo-" Raph tried to speak.

"NOW!" Leo dodged the blades.

Raph looked at his blue masked brother. "Leo..."

"Raph I don't know how long I can hold them. Get Mikey out of here!" A honor guard blade clashed against Leo's katanas.

Raph and Donnie picked up Mikey and started to carry him off. "About damn time." Leo muttered as his brothers disappeared into the shadows. "Now how do I get out of here?" He was surrounded.

.

.

Raph and Donnie managed to get Mikey away from the fight. Donnie found a secure spot he could hide Mikey until he woke up. "Stay with him, Donnie, I'm going back for, Leo."

"Be careful Raph."

Raph just nodded and slipped away into the darkness. He slowly made his way to where he had left Leo and he couldn't hear anything. 'Please, Leo, please be OK.' he thought as he quietly moved closer. The silence was deafening. He approached the set of pillars where Mikey had been struck down and hid behind one. He slowly moved his head around the pillar. There was no one there. No Shredder's honor guard, no Foot and no Leo.

Then something on the ground caught his eyes. Laying there neatly side by side were Leo's katanas with a note laying on top of them. Raph picked up the piece of paper and began to read.

_If you value your friend's life then I would advise you to bring me back my wife and children. I'm sure you remember how to get to the place? You have 24 hrs to comply or you can come back here and find his head in this spot. Your choice._

"God damn it all to HELL!" Raph lost the years of control he had gained on his anger with that one simple note. He threw a sai into the pillar next to him. It was thrown so hard the weapon went about 4 inches deep into the concrete. How was he going to tell this to Vicky...


	9. Chapter 9

Leo awoke in the courtyard of the compound. He was laying on the ground on his side with his hands tied behind his back and ropes were binding his arms to his chest. His legs were also bound together and they had gagged him. He tried to struggle free and found the bindings to tight. He was helpless. "He's awake" said a voice behind him.

Nicholas bent down to where Leo could see him. "What's the matter? Don't like your current situation?'" he asked. "Well that's just to bad. Maybe this will teach you to mind your own fucking buisness."

Leo stared at him defiantly. Refusing to let him see anything but hatred for him. Nicholas then kicked him in the side and Leo groaned into his gag in pain. "And I owe you that for that nice cut you gave me. It's a pity I need you alive. I would take great pleasure in killing you for the trouble you have caused me. That and once I get my hands on my darling wife and children, I promised to give you to Shredder here to play with. It seems he has a bigger grudge against you than I do"

"And believe me, Turtle," He heard Shredder say from not far away "I will greatly enjoy that pleasure."

Vicky...No. They were trying to lure her in...using him as bait. Leo tried again to struggle free and one again he found he couldn't. He heard the men laughing around him as they watched him try to free himself. Exhausted he gave up and closed his eyes. He wished he could hold her again. He wished he could be with his family. He felt so helpless, and so alone.

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It was shortly after one in the morning when Vicky woke up to the feeling of someone sitting on the bed next to her. "Hey you made it back." she whispered still half asleep. "Come to bed, Leo."

"Vicky wake up. I need to talk to you..." She frowned, that didn't sound like Leo. The figure reached out to the nightstand and turned the small lamp on. She looked up to see the figure sitting on the bed not to be Leo, but Raph. She was awake instantly. "Raph, where is Leo? Is he alright?"

Raph took a deep breath then looked at her. He had tears in his eyes and seeing that a sense of uneasyness filled her. "Raph...what happened?"

"Vicky, I'm sorry, god I'm so sorry, but your husband has him." Raph told her. "He wants us to give you and the children up to get him back..."

"No..." She whispered. Her eyes filled with tears she couldn't hold back. "No."

Suddenly another set of arms took her into a hug. "It will be alright, my child. You must calm yourself for the sake of the unborn child." Splinter's soft voice said as she cried into his chest. "What happened, Rapheal?"

"We got ambushed while on patrol. Leo, sensed a trap and led us away from it before the Foot could spring it. We tried to evade them in a gutted out building when Mikey got hit by Shredder's honor guard. Leo, took them on so we could get Mikey out of harms way. I tried to go back for him, Sensei but they were already gone. All they left behind were his katanas and a note saying to give them up for him if we wanted to see Leo alive again."

Vicky listened quietly. Leo did what he always did, protected those he cares about, and got taken himself to save his little brother. She knew Nicholas would never keep his word. He would kill Leo the first chance he got. That kind, gentle soul, her lover, the father of her unborn child, mentor to her children, leader to his brothers and son to Splinter was now in the hands of that monster. She came to a resolve she had never known before. A quiet confident calm. No more will she cry, no more will she run, no more would he ruin her life. It was time to take a stand, for Leo. "I won't let them take you, Leo." she said quietly. She took a deep breath and raised her head from Splinter's chest and looked around to the others gathered in the room.

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Raph sat on Leo's bed and saw the change come over Vicky. Something awoke inside her and wiped the grief off of her face and replaced it with determination. "Well then I guess we are going to have to get him back." She told them.

Raph looked at her and nodded. "And I agree. Donnie go pull up all the blueprints of the house. We still have some time to come up with something. Vicky go with him and tell him everything you can about the layout. We never had the chance to explore the whole compound so that info might come in handy." They nodded and went to Donnie's lab. Raph then looked at his little brother. "You OK, Mikey?"

"Yeah. I'll be ok. My head just hurts. I'm sure Donnie has something to fix me up though." He smiled "I should be used to getting smacked upside the head."

Raph chuckled. "Yeah, the difference is tho I don't hit that hard. Go ice that noggin of yours before your head swells up and makes you uglier than you already are."

Mikey laughed and left the room. Splinter walked out with him.

After they left Raph looked around the room. He saw Leo's influence everywhere he looked. The various swords hanging on the wall that were always dusted and taken care of. Books filled the bookcase all placed into alphabetical order. He even noticed some children's books mixed in with his old collection. Leo had been so happy earlier. To have a child was something Raph knew his brother had always wanted but never dared to dream of. Now he finally gets that chance and his life could be snuffed out before he can see the dream come true. "Hang in there, Big Brother...We are coming for you." he whispered and quietly left the room.

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April was shocked awake from the sound of Casey's phone ringing on his nightstand. Casey groaned and reached over to grab it. "It's Raph," he said as he looked at the caller ID. "I'm gonna kill him..." April giggled as he answered the phone. "Raph its 1:30 in the-" he cut himself off as he listened. April turned over to look at her husband. "What?...How?...Yeah. Give us some time to get ready. We will be there soon." He hung up and looked at her. "Leo is in trouble. They need our help."

That's all he needed to say. April got out of bed and went to the closet to put her gear on. "What happened?"

"The guys got ambushed on patrol earlier. Apparently they were able to snatch, Leo. They want to trade him for Vicky and the kids."

"Shit" April spat as she got dressed. The poor couple, first finding out a miracle happens, then this. Leo had always been there for her if she needed someone to talk to, usually after her and Casey had one of their fiery arguments. Leo had helped Splinter train her. 'Think of the blade as an extension of your arm. Once you learn how to move with the blade, then the blade will move with you.' he had told her once when she was tired and frustrated because she couldn't seem to master it. He then practiced with her outside of Splinter's set training schedule, patiently guiding her and helping to unleash the swordswoman hidden inside of her. He had done so much for her, now she was going to return the favor. "We're coming, Leo." April whispered as she sat in the passenger seat of the van as Casey drove them to meet up with the others. Casey heard his wife's whisper he knew what she was thinking. He laid a hand on hers. "We won't let you down, Buddy."

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Dennis and Amy had woken up because of all of the noise. Dennis knew something was wrong, he just felt it. His sister did too because she put her hand in his, she never did that unless she was scared. Together they walked out of their room and noticed everyone up and dressed. Even Splinter looked like he was getting ready to go out, Splinter never went anywhere...

Then he noticed that Leo wasn't there. And he grew even more scared. Then April and Casey came in. She looked ready to kick some butt and so did Casey. "Where are we supposed to make the trade for, Leo?" April asked.

"At my husband's house." Mommy said.

"What about the kids?" Casey asked.

Mommy took a deep breath. "I can't risk bringing them...they are just children."

Suddenly Dennis knew. Daddy had Leo. And he wanted them in return. With a knowledge beyond his young years he knew what he had to do. "Mommy," all conversation broke off as they all looked at him "please. I have to go with you. I have to go help, Leo. I know Daddy will hurt him if I don't go."

She looked at her son with tears in her eyes. "Me too, Mommy." Amy said from next to him.

"Mommy, it will be OK. Daddy can't hurt us. I'm not scared."

She looked at the others. "What do I do..."

Donnie was looking at them with thoughtful eyes. "He's right. They can't get hurt really. Nicholas might do something rash if they aren't with you. And it gives me a solution to a problem that has been bugging me."

Vicky looked at her children for a long moment. "Please, Mommy. We want to help. We gonna do this for, Leo. It will be OK. I don't know how I know, I just know we can help." She walked over to them and gave them both a hug. "OK. Listen to what Donnie wants you to do while I go get you some clothes to wear."

After the kids were set up to go. Raph looked at all of them. "Let's go get him back."

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He was still laying in the same spot where they had left him earlier. He had given up on trying to get free. Leo was exhausted, frustrated, aching and, for the first time in a long tome, he was afraid. The feeling of being alone scared him more than anything else ever could. The feeling of emptiness inside him was almost more than he could bear. It ate at his will to fight.

Leo then felt something change. Something inside him kindled the fire, pushing back the darkness and despair and giving him hope. They were with him, he could feel their presence. They may not be there physically but they were with him all the same. Leo was not, and never will be, alone. He felt himself grow calm. He quietly watched and waited.


	10. Chapter 10

Dawn was still a few hours away as Vicky stood in front of the open gate, her thoughts and emotions a jumbled mess in her mind. Dennis and Amy were standing behind her. What if this didn't work? She was jepordizing everything she loved... No. She couldn't think like that. She had to focus. She closed her eyes and took a deep calming breath to gather her scrambled thoughts. When she opened her eyes all her doubt and fear had been replaced with a calm determination.

Vicky started walking in and quickly scanned the compound with her eyes. There were about forty men scattered all around the compound, a mix of Foot soldiers and Nicholas' regular goons, watching her enter. Nicholas was standing in the courtyard facing her. Shredder stood about thirty feet to his right with four men standing around him that were clothed differently than the other foot soldiers. 'His honor guard' she thought. Then, finally, her eyes settled on her lover. Leo was lying on the ground to the left of Nicholas. He was bound and gagged and there was a guard standing over him. Vicky's eyes flashed in rage to see him lying like that. She shook the rage off. She had to stay focused. She reached out her hands to her kids to hold their hands, making sure Amy was on her right side. She squeezed her daughter's hand in support and felt her daughter squeeze hers in return.

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April watched from a rooftop not far away as Vicky slowly made her way across the compound, making sure to give the rest enough time to get into place. She had seen a familiar figure come out of the kitchen window, a kitchen with gas stoves, not to long ago. Apparently Donnie had already worked his magic on the security cameras or Raph was so good they never spotted him, both was a possibility, no alarm was sounded. She stood waiting in the shadows with an arrow ready in her bow. An arrow that would explode on impact. Calmly she waited for the signal.

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Donnie had made his way to the meter box after feeding the security cameras a loop feed. The only cameras he left untouched were the ones recording the front of the compound because those were the ones filming Vicky's approach. The others should be in position by now. He silently waited for the signal.

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Leo watched them approach. She calmly walked across the compound until she stood just a few feet away from him. If he hadn't been tied up he could have reached out and touched Amy she was so close.

"Search her." Nicholas said "I don't want a repeat of last time."

Vicky stood calmly as she was searched for any weapons by the Foot soldier guarding him. He did not, however, search the children. "She is unarmed." the soldier replied then went back to his position next to Leo.

"Well, you have us." Vicky said to her husband "Now let him go."

Nicholas laughed. "Now why on earth would I want to do that? You didn't actually think I would turn him loose, did you?"

"You big mean ol' stinky head! You turn him loose!" Amy yelled.

Without even answering his daughter he backhanded her. She stumbled and tripped over Leo falling to the ground behind him. After she fell to the ground he felt something small, and sharp, slip into his hands. Then she sat up and started to cry, conveniently hiding Leo's hands from his guard. 'Brave, smart little girl, I owe you one' He thought smiling to himself. Then put the small kunai to work she had managed to slip to him.

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Vicky had watched what happened. She knew why her daughter had spoken up but it still hurt her to see her get slapped like that. She had to draw the attention from the crying child now.

"Your a monster." she said to Nicholas. "A ruthless, horrible pain in my ass."

He pulled out the knife she had tried using on him before. "You, my lovely wife, are starting to annoy me. I think I'll just cut what I need out of you right here."

Amy took one of her hands and pushed her hair back behind her ear, Leo's hands were free. Apparently Dennis saw the signal too be cause he leapt up turning his body, bringing his foot around and kicked the knife out of his father's hand. As Nicholas stared at his son in shock Vicky lashed out herself. She brought her hand out in a flash and smashed her palm into Nicholas' nose, putting as much strength as she could into the blow. He cried out in pain and fell backwards. Then the compound went dark. She grabbed Dennis and pulled him to the ground.

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Just an instant before the lights went out. Leo saw something land to the ground in front of him. Two somethings as a matter of fact and he couldn't wait to get his hands on them. Then the lights went out and he heard a cry from behind him and felt his guard fall to the ground. "Hey!" Amy said to Leo "That pokey thingie you taught me works!"

Ignoring the screams and cries of alarm from the men who seemed to be all around him Leo quickly, with his hands now free, he was able to slip out of the ropes binding his arms. Then he cut his legs free and removed his gag. Then he stood up and picked up his katanas that had landed next to him. Then he went to Amy. "Are you Ok?"

"Yeah, I'm OK. You might want to get back down though."

Leo didn't even bother to ask. He just dropped to the ground as a huge explosion rocked the house, sending Foot soldiers and thugs flying everywhere.

"I have had enough of this!" Shredder said "Kill them all!"

Leo looked up to see a group of four Foot running toward him and Amy. He got up and placed himself between them and the girl. An arrow came streaking in and took out one of them. Leo quickly looked up to where it had come from and saw April standing there, readying another arrow. He nodded his thanks to her and she replied the same way.

Leo and the remaining Foot came together. He desperately fought to keep them away from the little girl sitting behind him. Then he wasn't alone as a green foot came in and knocked one away. "You alright, Leo?" Raph asked his brother.

Leo nodded as he swung his katanas up to block a strike then kicked out under the intertwined blades, sending his attacker flying into the wall of a nearby shed. "I am now. Sure did take you guys long enough."

Raph smiled. "Hey, we aren't as quick as you to come up with a plan." He blocked a punch and threw one of his own knocking the man to the ground. Raph then turned to his brother and placed a hand on his shoulder. "I told you I'd always be there for you. Now lets finish this."

Leo nodded. "I've about had enough of these creeps myself."

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The courtyard was filled with bits and pieces of the house Vicky had once called home. The fire that came from the blast that had destroyed the kitchen was working it's way across the rest of the house. In the fire light Vicky looked up to see Shredder's honor guard coming toward her and Dennis. Before they could reach her however, a furry ball of fury landed in the middle of them. Vicky watched as Splinter unleashed his skill. She could see where Leo got his grace from, his master was the vision of perfection. But not even he could hope to face them and the group of men approaching the fighting rat.

The twin cries of "Goongala!" and "Cowabunga!" rang out as Casey and Mikey entered the fray, even as another arrow streaked in from April. They crashed into the group of men trying to sneak up on to Splinter. Casey swung his bat and sent a thug flying away. Mikey unleashed his nunchuku skills and within seconds he had two down. "Hey Casey, your slacking, dude!"

"Oh yeah?" He swung his bat and another thug hit the ground "Now we're even!"

They two made short work of the group shortly after that. Mikey looked around. "Well these guys sure didn't give us much fun." He complained.

Vicky felt something behind her as she stood up she turned and found another group. This one a group of Foot. One held up his sword about to bring it down toward her until it was knocked away by a long wooden staff. "Guys if your done showing off I could use some help over here!" Donnie cried. Once again an arrow streaked in followed by Mikey and Casey. Donnie spun his staff and made contact with one head then swinging it around turned and jabbed another in the stomach, then followed it up with a kick to the face sending the man flying away.

"Mommy!" she heard as she felt her son being pulled from her grasp. She turned to face her husband. Dennis was struggling against the hold Nicholas had on his arm. Her husbands face was bloody and his nose was obviously broken. "Bitch I will make you pay! You ruined everything! All my research ruined!"

She kept her calm as she noticed a two figures moving in behind him. "Then consider us even. You murderer. You sorry excuse for a human. Your lower than filth."

In rage he let go of Dennis and charged at her. Raph quickly moved in to grab the boy as she ducked. Leo came flying in and hit Nicholas squarely with a kick, sending him flying over her. She turned and saw that he had landed front first on top of a piece of broken wood, debris from the house apparently, and the wood had driven through his chest and out his back.

"Leo.." She turned to take her lover in her arms but before she could reach him a form dropped down next to her and grabbed her by her neck, lifting her in the air.

"Woman, you have out lived your usefulness to me. You shall now perish." Shredder lifted his arm to strike, his spikes in line with her face.

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Leo watched in horror as his enemy lifted his love in the air. Vicky clawed at his had trying to release the pressure on her windpipe so she could breath. Shredder lifted his arm to strike.

"NO!" Leo screamed as he moved toward them. He reached out with his katana and Shredder's arm was knocked out of the way before his blades reached Vicky's face. Leo then with his other hand broke the hold Shredder had on her throat and kicked him away from her. He caught her as she fell out of his grip, gasping for air.

Looking at her, seeing her still trying to catch her breath, something fired up in Leo. He had almost lost the woman he loved and his unborn child. He had almost lost his family. He turned to face the leader of the foot clan. He was aware of the others still fighting around him but he only had eyes for Shredder. A Foot soldier moved in to take him down, thinking the turtle distracted, and Leo reached out with a lighting fast strike that sent him flying. Something had opened up in Leo. He remembered the conversation he had with Splinter. _'This is something you must find for yourself because in each individual it is a different lock. It is up to you to find the key.' _Leo felt a deep calm overcome him as Shredder charged towards him.

They came together and Leo blocked the big man's strike. They fought hard and fast. Leo matching him blow for blow, kick for kick. He matched Shredder's every move, he was fighting on a level never before obtained. Splinter fought for honor. Shredder for pride. Leo fought for his family. He then slowly went from holding his ground to pushing Shredder back and away from the others. There was still fighting all around him but he blocked it all out. Leo caught a punch with his katana and deflected the blow and reached out with his other arm to deliever his own strike which Shredder managed to block. Not loosing momentum his foot reached out and caught Shredder in the stomach, pushing him further back. Leo wasted no time and moved in on his foe and once again they came together in a clash of metal. Once again he matched every move Shredder made. Shredder was not fighting a lesser oponant any more. He was fighting one that was his equal

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Splinter had finished the last of the honor guard when he heard Leonardo cry out "NO!". The master turned to see his son free Vicky from Shredder's grasp, then knock away another foot soldier. His gaze was firmly locked onto Shredder and as the two came together Splinter saw a change in Leonardo. Splinter smiled, his son had found his key. "Well done, my son." he then turned his attention the the fight at hand.

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They had formed a circle around Vicky and the kids. They fought to keep the Foot soldiers at bay and the Foot's numbers were slowly decreasing. Nicholas' thugs had already fled, no match for the powerful family. April had by now gave up on using her bow, out of fear of hitting one of them, and came down to join the hand to hand fighting. The only one not in the circle was Leo. Vicky could see him as he and the Foot leader went at it blow for blow oblivious to anything else around them. Again she was struck breathless at the sheer beauty and grace of his movements.

"Whoa, dudes" Mikey said stunned "Leo has seriously upped his game."

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Leo fought on. At first there was anger and hatred in the evil master's eyes but that started to change. Fear started to show and uncertainty. Leo fought with everything he had in him and he started to get through Shredder's defenses. Until finally, as he heard sirens approaching them in the distance, he hit Shredder with a spin kick that slipped through the big man's defenses. Shredder flew through the air and slammed into the wall of the compound. He did not get back up. Leo turned and saw the rest of the Foot fleeing, their will to fight broken at the defeat of their master.

Vicky ran up to him and he caught her into a hug. Holding her tight against him. They stayed that way for a few moments then he pulled away from her. "Are you OK?' He asked her quietly.

She looked at him and nodded and he softly stroked her cheek. Leo then looked at the others. "Let's go. this place is going to be crawling with cops soon."

By the time the first cop cars and fire trucks arrived they were long gone.


	11. Chapter 11

Back in the safty of the lair exhaustion, stiff muscles from being tied up for half the night, numerous cuts, bruises and an almost forgotten pain in his side that made it hard for him to breathe, made Leo collapse finally. He made it as far as the hallway leading to his room before his legs started to give out. Leo struggled to keep his balence and not fall onto the floor. Suddenly Mikey was next to him. "Leo, you don't look to good."

"I'll..be...fine." Leo said to him.

MIkey looked at him. "I hate to go against you, Leo. But you are not fine. Donnie!" He yelled for the purple masked turtle. Leo's legs finally gave out on him and Mikey caught him before he hit the floor. Leo felt a sharp pain in his side and groaned. "DONNIE!" Mikey yelled again.

"What?" Donnie stuck his head out from the lab where he was bandaging a cut on Raph. Then he saw Mikey struggling to keep Leo from falling. "Raph come out here and help me!" then Donnie ran towards his fallen brother. Raph not far behind.

Leo looked up at his brothers. "OK...maybe...I'm ..not... fine."

"You think?" Raph snorted at him.

By then Vicky and the others had heard the commotion and had come to see what was wrong. "Leo!" She wanted to go to him but April held her back. "Let the boys work on him, Vicky." Vicky just nodded and stood out of the way with the kids holding her legs. Her eyes were frightened.

Donnie looked across Leo to Casey. "Can you help us get him to my lab?' Casey nodded and stepped over to Leo. Together the four of them lifted Leo tried to be as careful as the could but by the time they had gotten him to the lab, Leo had passed out in pain.

Leo woke up in Donnie's lab on top of that goddamn awful uncomfortable table. One would think he would at least put padding on the stupid thing. He was about to gripe to Donnie, who was looking at something on his desk, when he noticed Vicky was asleep on his chest. She was sitting in a chair on his uninjured side with her head laying on her arm. How long had he been out and how long had she been there? He just laid there and quietly watched her sleep.

Donnie looked over and saw that he was awake. He got up and walked to the table. "Hey, your awake." he said softly. "How are you feeling?"

"Like shit." Leo admitted.

Donnie smiled. "I bet. You, my dear brother, took quite a beating. Among other things. I'm surprised you made it back home on your own two feet. None of us realised how bad off you were until you collapsed."

Leo looked at him. "Well how bad off was I?"

Donnie looked at him. "Leo, you were fighting with a fractured rib. Probably from when you were kicked by Nicholas. Then during the fight you turned it into a clean break and it punctured your lung."

Leo stared at him, shocked. "Did I do any major damage?"

Donnie shook his head. "No, not really. I got to it in time. You'll heal up in no time. But I have to ask...What on earth kept you going? I want to say it was adreneline, but I don't think that was the only thing."

Leo thought about it for a few seconds, staring at the ceiling. How to put what he felt into words? "Donnie, this may sound wierd, but it was you guys. All of you. I was so close to giving up..." Leo teared up "because I felt so alone. Then I could just feel you guys. You were there with me long before you actually showed up. I don't know how or why but I didn't feel anything, no pain, no fear. All I felt was...your love and support..." He chocked up, the tears started to fall down his face.

"Oh, Leo" Vicky said softly. He looked down from the ceiling to see that she was awake and watching him. She took his hand in one of hers and with the other softly brushed his tears away. "We are your family. We will always be with you." Then she wrapped him in a hug, which he returened. Donnie laid a hand silently on his shoulder. Nothing more needed to be said.

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Over the next few weeks Leo took it easy, at the insistence of his meddling family. He knew they meant well but he was getting annoyed by the whole thing. If he tried to so much as stretch he got "Take it easy, Leo!" from five different mouths. It was enough to drive a turtle nuts. Finally Donnie gave him the go ahead to start training again and he was more than ready. Leo settled back into the training routine with ease and soon he was back out on patrol with his brothers. The Foot were still around but they had quieted down. Now the most problems they had were dealing with the Purple Dragons.

Dennis and Amy continued their training and were thrilled when their favorite tutor was able to start training them again. Again Leo was stunned on how quick they learned. And he saw in them the same rivalry he and Raph had carried for years. Dennis being the cool tempered one and Amy the hot temper. He had grown used to having them in his life and enjoyed spending time with them tremendously but nothing could have prepared Leo for the first time they called him 'Daddy'. He stood there with his eyes wide with a few tears in them. He never pushed them to call him that and when they did it on their own he was struck speechless. Vicky smiled at him and said "You might as well get used to it."

The months slowly plodded along and Vicky grew larger, and more short tempered. There were times when Raph, the temper king, knew better than to piss her off. They had done some renovating to the lair and now there were three extra rooms. One for Dennis, one for Amy and of course the baby's room. Donnie studied everything he could get his hands on about pregnancy and childbirth since he was the best one qualified to deliver the child. That didn't mean he was happy about it tho...For some reason the thought of delivering a child made him greener than usual. Mikey once asked "So who's going to deliver the baby if he passes out?" The answer was a slap on his head by the purple masked turtle.

Then, late one night, Leo was wakened by Vicky gently shaking him. He opened his eyes and looked into hers. "What's the matter?" he whispered then kissed her cheek.

"Get Donnie." Then a look of pain crossed her face. "Hurry..."

Leo got up and went to Donnie's room. He then entered and shook his brother awake. Donnie looked at him with sleepy eyes. "It's time."

"OK. I'm up."

The next few hours were agonizing for Leo. He hated seeing Vicky go through the pain, even though she assured him this delivery wasn't nearly as bad as her first two. It seemed like every few minutes someone would come knock on the door to see if the baby was born yet, usually Mikey, until Donnie threatened to break his hands if he didn't go away. Finally After a long hard push, with Leo holding her hand, a small little form made it's way into the world. Donnie caught the tiny form and looked at the parents with a smile. "Congratulations" he said as the child started to cry "It's a little girl." Donnie then cleaned her up, wrapped her into a blanket and handed her to her mother. Then he started to clean everything up. Vicky took the bundled form and looked at her in wonder. "She is beautiful, Leo"

"Just like you." he replied watching the little girl. She had his green skin and blue eyes, but her mother's dark brown hair. Her features were a mix of both of parents but it looked so natural on her. She was a beautiful child. He kissed Vicky softly on the cheek. "I love you."

She looked into his eyes and smiled. "I love you too."

Suddenly there was a knock on the door again. Leo and Vicky laughed. "You better let them in Donnie."

Donnie mumbled as he went to open the door. They all quietly came into the room to see the newest member of their family. ''Whatcha gonna name her?" Amy asked.

Leo looked at the child and thought about it a minute. Then he smiled "I think, Miracle, would be a fitting name."

She nodded her agreement. "Very fitting indeed."

Leo looked at his family, wondering what new adventures await them with this new member of the family. He couldn't wait to find out...


End file.
